Champions League: Ranieri urges calm ahead of Copenhagen visit

Leicester City manager Claudio Ranieri is not worried by the English champions' poor domestic run and is confident they will rediscover their winning ways, he said on Monday.

The Foxes have won just twice in eight Premier League games and slumped to a 3-0 defeat at Chelsea on Saturday, leaving them only two points above the relegation places.

But they have won their first two Champions League Group G games, ahead of Tuesday's visit of Danish champions FC Copenhagen, and Ranieri says he has full faith in his misfiring team.

"Sometimes you can play well and sometimes not so well," the 64-year-old Italian told his eve-of-match press conference.

"Like at Manchester United (where Leicester lost 4-1), the first half at Chelsea was no good, but in the second half we played very well. I am very confident with my team.

"They fight and last season we were more compact, but now everyone knows about us.

"Now we are in the balance, in the middle, and not as good as last season, but it's normal for a team like Leicester."

Leicester's Danish international goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel concurred with Ranieri that there was no need to push the panic button.

"We've had to look at ourselves in the mirror and get back on it. It's a massive test tomorrow," said Schmeichel, who was born in Copenhagen.

"It's not a time to worry or panic. We come good in the middle of a season and really good towards the end. We're working hard. It'll come good ?- I'm sure of that.

"I remember playing Tuesday nights in the Championship. We've come a long way and it's important to remember that." 'Pray on their knees'

Copenhagen trail Leicester by two points ahead of their double-header against Ranieri's men, having followed up a creditable 1-1 draw at Porto with a 4-0 thrashing of Club Brugge last time out.

Visiting coach Stale Solbakken, who previously worked in England with Wolverhampton Wanderers, says he is not holding too much store by Leicester's domestic woes.

Leicester City's goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel attends a press conference on October 17, 2016 (AFP)