Leicester City star Riyad Mahrez has claimed that the team's fixture list has contributed to the problems at the King Power Stadium.

The 2015-16 Premier League champions announced the sacking of Craig Shakespeare earlier this week, just eight games into the season.

The 53-year-old was appointed as Claudio Ranieri's permanent successor just four months ago, but a run of three defeats and three draws caused the club's owners to make a change.

Mahrez believes that the Foxes were handed a tough fixture list, with games against Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool pencilled in for their opening six games of the season.

"We've had a bad start with the schedule - we have had a lot of big teams," The Mirror quotes the winger as saying. "We're getting better. Of course, this is a big game for us at Swansea City [on Saturday] and we will try to bring something from there."

Leicester are currently two points from safety.