Leicester City vs Swansea City analysis: Claudio Ranieri has Foxes believing again after tense week

The fear was finally creeping in. With two dropped points against West Ham seven days ago came a wave of anxiety. Leicester City's 22^nd victory of an unhinged Premier League season, a demolition of Swansea, must surely now persuade even the most pessimistic of supporters that the stars are aligning.

This latest triumph puts the Foxes eight points ahead of Spurs and within just five of the title. If Mauricio Pochettino's men lose against West Bromwich Albion on Monday night, a win for Leicester at Manchester United on Sunday will seal the most breathtaking league triumph in living memory.

Those of a certain vintage should be inoculated from the sort of folly which has dominated normal life in Leicester this last week. They’ve lived through enough promotions and relegations; they know well the emotional torture chamber.

The fear of failure seems just as paralysing for them, mind you, as it is for acne-ridden teenagers going through all of this for the first time. It took just ten words on Friday to belay their insecurities, to remind them that making a mockery of the biggest clubs in the land should be fun.

Claudio Ranieri, the most affable manager in the top-flight, delivered a perfectly timed, expertly scripted, intricately crafted intervention to get Leicester believing again. Just ten words: “We are in Champions League, man! Dilly-ding dilly-dong!” This thriving city in the heart of England was smirking in the face of adversity once more and it showed on Sunday afternoon.

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So much of their irrepressible success is sourced from the Roman’s masterful man-management and it has since been projected onto the wider public.

Riyad Mahrez stepped into the breach left vacant by Jamie Vardy, who will discover his fate after his dismissal against West Ham at a disciplinary hearing this week, by mugging Ashley Williams to open the scoring after just ten minutes.

Leonardo Ulloa, a connoisseur in the art of scoring crucial goals this season, then nodded Danny Drinkwater’s free-kick beyond Swans goalkeeper Łukasz Fabiański, sparking delirium in the stands. Ranieri was stalking the side-lines, growling at his players whenever he saw fit.

It got even better for Leicester. Ulloa’s second, poking in the hosts’ third at Fabiański’s far post after a trademark Jeffrey Schlupp gallop down the opposite flank, came on the hour mark. Marc Albrighton, benched as part of Ranieri's Vardy contingency plan, soon smashed in a fourth. This felt like their moment, their fans could sense it too: “Are you watching Tottenham?”

64-year-old Ranieri may chuckle at the suggestion of a knighthood but, as Leicester creep ever closer to the title, such recognition hardly seems as fanciful as it once might have done. Swansea never stood a chance. Even without Vardy, the leaders’ roadrunner, their tormentor-in-chief who may miss the trip to United next weekend also, the Foxes found the mettle to get the job done.

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Now needing just a five-point swing in their favour to lift a first-ever first division title in their 132-year history, Leicester’s team spirit shone through yet again. It is becoming increasingly likely that this title fight will be decided on the four points Tottenham surrendered to Leicester earlier in the campaign.

With Ranieri’s words ringing in their ears, the King Power faithful greeted the home side with a banner which read: 'History makes us what we are'. Once the brilliant Mahrez had put them ahead, the relief spread and with it followed the confidence which got them here in the first place. History is in touching distance now.