Leicester City manager Claudio Ranieri has called on Riyad Mahrez and Jamie Vardy to rediscover the form that helped fire the club to the Premier League title last season.
Both players played a pivotal role in Leicester's remarkable title success in the 2015-16 campaign, with Mahrez's form seeing him named the PFA Player of the Year while Vardy's 24 league goals earned him the FWA Footballer of the Year award.
However, this season the pair have not come close to matching those achievements, with Mahrez having scored just three times and Vardy on five goals for the season - three of which came in one match.
That form has contributed to Leicester finding themselves embroiled in a relegation battle heading into Sunday's match with fellow strugglers Swansea City, and Ranieri is hoping to see his star attackers help the team turn things around.
"I have spoken with Riyad and I have spoken with Jamie and we know. They link together well. If you see how many goals they scored and how many passes they made last season - but this time no. I say to Riyad, 'come back to last season, come back'. He is trying and he is positive and I am very happy when he is positive," he told reporters.
"I look at him smiling and that is okay. He is very important and now he is very concentrated on the last part of the season. I am very hopeful. Jamie works hard for the team but this season we have scored very few goals and scoring three goals in one match was amazing and I hope this is good for the future. But I was waiting for this kind of season, of course not so hard. It is normal after the title, this is normal.
"Swansea are a very good team. They move the ball quickly. For us it's very important to play with the brain and our quality. I am confident in my players. The win against Derby in the FA Cup will give us more confidence and we have to keep going. It is an important battle, a very tough match."
Leicester are yet to score a goal in the Premier League since the turn of the year.
No Data Analysis info
