Mahrez eases Leicester towards Champions League last 16

Leicester City 1 Copenhagen 0

A goal from Riyad Mahrez five minutes before half-time was enough for Leicester to see off Copenhagen and take the Foxes to the brink of qualification for the Last 16 of the Champions League.

Their Premier League form may be a shadow of what it was last season when they won the title but Claudio Ranieri's men are enjoying their first taste of Champions League football, and one more victory in Group G will ensure their progress to the knockout stage of the competition.

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Mahrez's goal from Islam Slimani's knockdown made it three wins from three for Leicester and although they suffered a scare late on when Andreas Cornelius was denied an equaliser only by a superb one-handed save from Kasper Schmeichel, they now sit five points clear in their group.

The Foxes are only the fifth Champions League debutants to win their opening three games, joining an exclusive club compromising AC Milan, Paris Saint-Germain, Malaga and Juventus.

Victory away at Copenhagen on 2 November will see Leicester go through to the last 16. All of which makes their league form all the more baffling. Lying 13th in the table, eleven points behind leaders Manchester City, Ranieri admitted he was not happy with his team's woeful start to the defence of their title. "I'm very proud of the side from one side but from another, when I think of the Premier League, I am very, very angry," he told reporters.

Asked to explain the discrepancy in their form in the two competitions, Ranieri said: "When you are in the big competition for the first time you grow and then you lose something when you go back into your own competition. When you play in the Champions League you are switched on, very, very smart and focused on every situation. You use up a lot of mental energy in the Champions League.

"We want to change this though because the Premier League is our priority... we have to stay calm now and change our mentality in the Premier League because we have Crystal Palace coming up - a tough, tough match."