Claudio Ranieri jokes that Leicester players should have 'killed' Arsenal at last minute set-piece

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James Benge14 February 2016

Claudio Ranieri could scarcely hide his disappointment as league-leading Leicester fell to a stoppage time goal from Danny Welbeck that gave Arsenal a 2-1 victory at the Emirates.

Defeat saw Leicester’s lead at the top of the table slip to just two points, though there were plenty of positives to take from a performance where the likes of N’Golo Kante, Wes Morgan and Robert Huth more than matched their opponents.

Having held firm after Theo Walcott’s 70th minute equaliser Leicester’s defence was found wanting at the last, with Welbeck able to flick in Mesut Ozil’s free-kick under minimal pressure.

Ranieri did not criticise his side’s rearguard at the last, though he did joke that he would have been more forceful had he been on the pitch in the final moments.

“If you watch the goal there was Welbeck and another in front of the near post,” Ranieiri said. “In that moment you are to kill them.

“The players are young. If I were on the pitch I’d have mauled them.”

With Leicester out of the cups the manner of their defeat could fester in players’ minds for 14 days before their next game, a home match with Norwich on 27 February.

Arsenal vs Leicester: Player Ratings

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However Ranieiri intends to give his players a week off to relax ahead of 12 games for which they remain the frontrunners in the chase for the league title.

“The players said to me ‘if we win nine points from Liverpool, Manchester City and Arsenal’ can we go away?’ I was happy with that but I’ll let them go anyway.

“We’ll see each other next Monday. They deserve it, they were fantastic.

“They’ll go I don’t know where – Dubai or wherever they went. I’m going back to Rome.”

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