Huth: Leicester needs to forget title, focus on relegation battle

Robert Huth says Leicester City needs to forget last season's remarkable Premier League triumph and not use its Champions League campaign as an excuse - the Foxes are in the midst of a relegation battle.

Leicester is a precarious two points above the bottom three after 23 matches - 26 points worse off than at the same stage of the previous term - and welcomes Jose Mourinho's unpredictable Manchester United outfit to the King Power Stadium on Sunday.

"We need to get on with now rather than saying: 'Last year was great,'" Huth told the BBC's Football Focus. "It's reality. We are struggling with relegation."

He added: "We're losing games and we can't put our fingers on how or why.

"We fully deserved what we got last season, and it was always going to be a struggle after what happened, but we didn't think we would be in this position."

Earlier in the campaign, manager Claudio Ranieri was unabashed in admitting he was resting players for Leicester's maiden Champions League campaign. But, after wrapping up group stage commitments in December, only eight points have been collected from a possible 27.

"People say (the Champions League) is a distraction, but for me it never has been and never will be - it's only an extra six games," Huth said.

"It's not like we're thinking about the Champions League every time we play in the Premier League."

Leicester follows the weekend's wrangle with Manchester United with an FA Cup fourth-round replay against Derby County, and then a league tilt against Swansea City. The Champions League Round of 16 begins Feb. 22 with a trip to Sevilla.