Leicester City task finally clear but Enzo Maresca says Southampton demolition not their best

Enzo Maresca, Manager of Leicester City, and Harry Winks of Leicester City embrace after the team's victory in the Sky Bet Championship match between Leicester City and Southampton
Enzo Maresca, Manager of Leicester City, and Harry Winks of Leicester City embrace after the team's victory in the Sky Bet Championship match between Leicester City and Southampton -Credit:Getty Images


Enzo Maresca is pleased the task is finally clear for Leicester City with just one more win required for promotion to the Premier League. But despite watching his City team demolish rivals Southampton in their biggest victory of the campaign, he said it was not the display of the season.

City’s 5-0 thrashing of the Saints sparked chants of ‘we are going up’ at the King Power Stadium and Maresca is thrilled that the job is now straightforward, with three points needed against either Preston or Blackburn. But City could be promoted before kicking another ball if Leeds lose to QPR on Friday.

“It has been a long season, 51 official matches,” Maresca said. “Before tonight’s game, we didn’t know how many points we needed. Two, three, four, five, they lose, they win, who knows?

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“The good feeling about tonight is now we know that with one win you get promoted. Two days off, recovery, and then we start to prepare for Preston, which is the next one and the most important.

“We’re looking just now to get promoted (not at the title). It doesn’t matter where, first or second. But in this moment, the most important thing is to win one more game to get promoted.”

Despite tearing through the Saints, Abdul Fatawu scoring a hat-trick with Wilfred Ndidi and Jamie Vardy also netting, Maresca did not feel the performance in possession was good enough for it to qualify as the best of the season. He was very happy with their commitment to the press though.

“I don’t think it was our best performance of the season,” he said. “Most of the time we judge the performance on the results. The performance was fantastic on the ball and off the ball. Probably on the ball we could play better because there was space to play and we could keep the ball more. I think we had more games where the team was better on the ball.

“But overall I’m very happy. They (Southampton) are a fantastic team. It’s a team that if you don’t press them higher, you’re going to struggle. Since we started, and until the end, we tried to press them, even in their box.

“It was a fantastic performance from Jannik (Vestergaard) and Wout (Faes). They were pressing Southampton players in the edge of their box, so very high. The attitude was fantastic.

“We always try to do that. Sometimes we are better, sometimes we are not good enough. But we always try to be high pressing in their side. We continued for 95 minutes. The effort of the players was unbelievable.”

When asked for what he thought was City's best display of the season, Maresca suggested Watford away. City won 2-1 at Vicarage Road back in February.

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