REUTERS – Leicester City sit second in the Premier League, trailing Manchester City only on goal difference, and have the league’s leading scorer in Jamie Vardy but manager Claudio Ranieri says top flight survival remains their top priority.

Ranieri, who says he is with the Foxes for the long haul, said his side would consolidate their place this season before starting to push for European spots.

With the side rubbing shoulders with England’s elite at the top of the table, fans could be forgiven for eyeing European competition next year but the fact that they flirted with relegation last season means the club are staying grounded.

“The project of the chairman this year is to save Leicester and the next year slowly to achieve the high position,” Ranieri told reporters on Thursday.

“To play in Europe or the Champions League is fantastic and I want to help my players and my team to achieve this goal, but slowly.

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“You have to be solid at the beginning and know each other very well and then we can go there.”

Leicester travel to take on struggling Swansea on Saturday.

(Reporting by Shravanth Vijayakumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)