Riyad Mahrez: Leicester cannot win Premier League title
Last updated on .From the section Leicester
Leicester winger Riyad Mahrez has dismissed his team's chances of winning the Premier League, despite being top.
The Foxes narrowly avoided relegation last season but are two points clear at the summit after 15 games.
But Mahrez, who took his goal tally to 11 with Saturday's treble at Swansea, is more concerned at getting the eight more points needed to reach 40, a total usually enough for survival.
"I don't think we can win the league," he told BBC World Football.
"We just need to get the 40 points and then after that we will see."
The Algeria international's form, along with that of 14-goal team-mate Jamie Vardy, has been instrumental in Leicester's rise.
"I'm not surprised because I knew I could do the things that I have done," Mahrez, 24, added.
"Football is just confidence. When you start scoring and you carry on it gives you more confidence so maybe that has helped me."
Don't take me for a 'sucker'
Marseille president Vincent Labrune reportedly dismissed the idea of the French club signing Mahrez when the player was suggested to him as a potential target in December 2014.
"Do you really think that Leicester players now have a place at Olympique Marseille?" Labrune is quoted as saying. "I don't put up with people taking me for a sucker."
"He thinks what he thinks. I know what I am, I know what I'm doing in the football, I know what I can do," Mahrez said.
"The people who don't know football - I don't want to speak about them.
"Everyone's not going to love you. Sometimes some people love you, some people hate you, some people don't like your football. That's life so I don't care, I don't mind."
| Where does the team top after 15 games finish? | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | Final position | Season | Team | Final position |
| 1993 | Norwich | 3rd | 2005 | Chelsea | 1st |
| 1994 | Man Utd | 1st | 2006 | Chelsea | 1st |
| 1995 | Man Utd | 2nd | 2007 | Man Utd | 1st |
| 1996 | Newcastle | 2nd | 2008 | Arsenal | 3rd |
| 1997 | Arsenal | 3rd | 2009 | Liverpool | 2nd |
| 1998 | Man Utd | 2nd | 2010 | Chelsea | 1st |
| 1999 | Aston Villa | 6th | 2011 | Man Utd | 1st |
| 2000 | Man Utd | 1st | 2012 | Man City | 1st |
| 2001 | Man Utd | 1st | 2013 | Man Utd | 1st |
| 2002 | Liverpool | 2nd | 2014 | Arsenal | 4th |
| 2003 | Arsenal | 2nd | 2015 | Chelsea | 1st |
| 2004 | Chelsea | 2nd | 2016 | Leicester | ? |
