Soccer-Drinkwater confident of Leicester's top half finish

Jan 19 (Reuters) - Leicester City can still finish in the top half of this season's Premier League after a feeble start to their title defence, according to midfielder Danny Drinkwater. Leicester have failed to build on last season's fairytale title triumph and, despite a fine Champions League campaign, the Foxes are languishing in 15th in the standings after 21 games, five points ahead of the bottom three. "We knew what we achieved was unbelievable and something that probably won't happen again. But we needed to set a new target and hopefully reach it -- and the target is still there to reach," Drinkwater told Sky Sports. "Come the end of the season, if we are in the top half and we've got through to the quarter finals of the Champions League, for a team like Leicester City, I can't see many people complaining. "You can understand the frustrations of the fans at the minute but we'll get there... Looking at the first half of the season, it can only improve." Drinkwater, who was a surprise exclusion from England's Euro 2016 squad, admits that on his current form he will have a hard time convincing national team manager Gareth Southgate he deserves a call-up. "I'll be the first to admit my form has dropped... It's important and the sooner I can get my own form back, showing what I can do, hopefully that will come with it," he added. "I've spoken to Southgate and he seems like someone who's a perfect fit for the England job so that's good for the players and for the fans as well." Leicester travel to face 13th placed Southampton on Sunday. (Reporting by Shravanth Vijayakumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Amlan Chakraborty)