Jamie Vardy says survival with Leicester would be biggest achievement of his career

And that's quite the statement, considering the striker was at the centre of one of sport's greatest ever upsets.

Having guided the Foxes to an incredible title triumph in 2015/16 after sitting in the top flight's relegation zone 18 months earlier, Vardy earned his place in footballing folklore.

Since the 2016 title there's been an FA Cup victory, Champions League football and multiple England caps.

But with Leicester two points from safety with three games to go this season, Vardy outlined just how much keeping the club in the Premier League would mean to him.

"I think at this moment in time it would be the biggest achievement," the 36-year-old said, speaking to Drivetime host Darren Bent. "That's how important it is."

He added: "It's hard and I don't think hurting is actually a strong enough word for personally how I'm feeling as a person, being here that long.

"Being on all the ups and downs throughout all of the time that I've been here I've never wanted to see us be in a situation like that again so to be where we are, it's hard to take.

"We can't do anything about what's gone on, it's gone now. We can't change results from games that have gone, we know, we've got three games left now and we need to pick up points - it's that simple.

"I love this club. It's hurting me on a personal level a real lot. I've got to be one that stands up and be accounted for. I've got to give my upmost and try to help the team as much as possible."

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When asked by talkSPORT's Bent if he can single out what the issue has been for Leicester this season, Vardy admitted he's been left dumbfounded.

"No, I really can't," he said. "I think if you ask 99 per cent of people they couldn't have seen this happening.

"It's been tough trying to work out the whys and what's gone on to get us to be in this situation, you can't put your finger on it.

"But it is the situation that we're in and we've got to stand up and be counted for and make sure that we're doing everything we possibly can to pick up as many points as we can in these last three games to give us a chance."

Vardy went 19 games without a goal before netting in back-to-back games against Leeds and Everton.

Having been their talisman for so long, the veteran forward knows he must now finish with a flourish as Leicester face three tough final fixtures, against Liverpool, Newcastle and West Ham.

Quizzed on why this season has been more difficult for him, he said: "I can't put my finger on it myself, it's been really tough. I'm a striker, all I want to do is score goals and help the team and it's not happened this year for whatever the reason may be.

"I think one thing that we have done in the past, probably since the Man City game, even the Man City game, we've got back to creating them goalscoring opportunities and if you look at the years gone by we've been creating clear-cut chances and really good opportunities for each other and I think for the vast majority of this season that kind of faded away.

"Yeah we lost to Man City, but could we have got something out of the game with the chances we created? Yeah, we could. And the way we defended that day as a closed unit was really good.

"You looked at the next few performances and we were creating the chances again but it didn't happen, but as long as the chances are coming and we're still creating then that's how we make sure we get the points as a team."

talkSPORT will bring you live commentary of Leicester's crucial next two Premier League games, against Liverpool (Monday, May 15) and Newcastle (Monday, May 22)