Ranieri urges Leicester to evoke spirit of 'great escape'

Prior to their unlikely title-winning campaign, Leicester were bottom for most of the 2014-15 season but pulled off a remarkable turnaround under Nigel Pearson to stay up after winning seven of their last nine matches to finish 14th.

(Reuters)

"They (the players) have to play with pressure. They must remember not how last season went but two seasons ago, they now must be focused on this. We have to play with the same character as then, the great escape," Ranieri told British media.

"Something happened last season. The players are human, they are not machines. It is normal they remember last season when everybody played well and everything they tried to do was good -- but this year, no. Then you have to reconnect your brain.

"We are a good team. But we are not a good, good team as (league leaders) Chelsea, for example. Look at Chelsea last season, with a lot of champions they didn't work so well," the Italian added.

Leicester, who are 14th in the table after 13 games, will hope to end their three-game winless streak in the league when they travel to face bottom-side Sunderland on Saturday.

(Reporting by Shravanth Vijayakumar in Bengaluru; Editing by John O'Brien)