Leicester City vs Arsenal preview - Arsenal's title drought surprises former Chelsea boss Claudio Ranieri

Claudio Ranieri is surprised Leicester's next opponents, Arsenal, failed to win the title during his 11-year spell away from the Barclays Premier League.

When Ranieri left English football in 2004, the Gunners had just gone through the entire league season unbeaten.

Ranieri's Chelsea team finished runners-up that year, 11 points behind their London rivals, and reached the semi-finals of the Champions League for the first time in the club's history, but it was not enough for the Italian to keep his job and he was replaced by Jose Mourinho.

In the intervening time, while Ranieri has undertaken club jobs in Spain, Italy and France and been in charge of the Greece national team, the closest Arsenal have come to being champions again was when they were second behind Chelsea in Mourinho's maiden campaign.

However, ahead of Leicester's home game against Arsene Wenger's team on Saturday, Ranieri believes Arsenal are ready to mount a serious title challenge once again.

"When I was at Chelsea, they were 'the Invincibles' said Ranieri.

"That was an unbelievable achievement, so it is surprising they have not won the league since.

"I don't know why Arsenal have had to wait so long, because Arsene Wenger is a good manager and he brings in good players. But maybe it is not so easy to replace players such as Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp, Fredrik Ljungberg and all the defenders.

"But now, again, Arsenal is a very good team we respect a lot...smart, fast, technical, everything.

"They are ready to fight again for the title and it will be a very good match."

Ranieri swapped 10 players against West Ham in the Capital One Cup in

midweek.

That leaves him with some hard decisions to make but he is likely to favour the players who have helped the Foxes make an unbeaten start to the campaign.

Arsenal will be without defensive midfielder Francis Coquelin (knee), but midfielder Santi Cazorla returns from a one-match suspension after his red card at Chelsea.

Defender Gabriel is awaiting the outcome of an appeal against his

Football Association charge of improper conduct at Stamford Bridge, which could see him suspended.

Manager Arsene Wenger, meanwhile, has condemned the disturbances by Gunners' fans following Wednesday night's Capital One Cup victory at Tottenham.

The Frenchman has vowed the club will fully cooperate with the authorities to help identify those responsible.

A 2-1 win was overshadowed by disturbances which saw a

minority of the travelling supporters in the corner of the South Stand ripping down hoardings of Tottenham club slogans, with police and stewards forced to intervene.

Arsenal are now working with both Tottenham and the authorities, with banning orders a likely outcome for any offenders.

"We cooperate completely with the authorities to sort that out. We don't want any violence," said Wenger.

"I don't really know what happened but we are the disposal of the authorities to help them to sort it out."

Wenger is backing Chilean forward Alexis Sanchez to relocate his form, citing his summer exploits at the Copa America as a reason for his goalless start to the season.

Alexis Sanchez has yet to find the net in his eight performances this season.

"Every player who has won a big trophy with the national

team takes some while to settle and come back to his best," he said.

"I don't worry for Alexis Sanchez. Even when he doesn't score he is still a major threat for everybody and I am confident he will score very soon."