Maddison insists Leicester will continue to do their ‘business in the background’ of title rivals

James Maddison insists Leicester are happy to continue doing their ‘business in the background’ of their title rivals after going top of the Premier League table.

The England midfielder added a second goal for the Foxes after Wilfred Ndidi netted the opener in their 2-0 win against Chelsea at the King Power Stadium.

The victory took the Foxes one point clear of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s second place Manchester United, four clear of Jurgen Klopp’s champions Liverpool and five of Jose Mourinho’s Tottenham.

But Maddison refused to state that Brendan Rodgers’ men consider themselves genuine contenders for a first title since the infamous 2015-16 season, and admitted they are just happy to keep doing ‘what we’re doing’.

Asked why he would not state that Leicester are real Premier League title contenders, the 24-year-old told Sky Sports: ‘You can get sidetracked, we are top at the minute because we don’t think like that. 

‘The most important game is the next game, as cliche as it is that’s how we have to work because we have that mentality. 

‘We’re at the top of the league because we work hard we’re not there by fluke. We’ll do our business in the background, let them talk about Liverpool, Man United and Spurs, we’ll just keep doing what we’re doing.’

Maddison netted in a third straight Premier League game for the Foxes following strikes against Southampton and Newcastle, taking his top-flight tally this season up to six.

And the England midfielder revealed the desire to add goals to his game came after listening to Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher speaking about him during last month’s 2-1 victory at Sheffield United.

Maddison also said he sat down with boss Brendan Rodgers and the club analyst as a result, and is keen to continue his purple match in front of goal to ensure ‘everyone is talking about me’. 

Asked what scoring more goals recently is down to, Maddison replied: ‘Working on my game and improving. 

‘We played Sheffield United earlier in the season and Jamie Carragher said “he needs to get numbers up James Maddison if he wants to be challenging for the England spots and being talked about in the same bracket as others”.

‘Me, the gaffer [Rodgers] and Jack the analyst sat down and looked at where I can get more goals. I played a bit deeper as a No 8 today, and also little things like breaking into the box and breaking that last lines and almost smelling where the ball is going to drop.

‘It is not an easy thing to do and Frank Lampard was the best at it, arriving late and scoring goals and that is what I did today. 

‘That is something I will keep improving on, everyone wants numbers and I want numbers because I want everyone talking about me.’