Any team from the lower leagues has one sole and unifying aim: reach the Premier League. It's this fight for the pinnacle of English football that links intercity rivals and teams from the north of England to the south of Wales.
Once these teams have reached the summit they have one impulse, survival. This has been the downfall of so many teams ranging from those with a huge financial backing such as Queens Park Rangers to supposedly established and strong teams like Hull.There have been a number of teams though that have thrived after surviving their first season in the premier league. Swansea, Stoke and Crystal Palace would have been among the teams tipped for immediate relegation when they ascended to the Premier League and have since gone on to establish themselves as strong mid-table Premier League teams.
However, there is another team that has hastened the trend of moving up the league. Leicester City have come a long way from their 13 game winless run between match week 6-18 in the 2014/15 Premier League season where they picked up two points from a possible 39.
Regardless of which team has that record, be it Leicester or Manchester City, the betting would have been closed on their relegation. But then the seemingly impossible happened. Leicester won seven of their last nine games, losing only to Champions Chelsea and drawing with a Sunderland team fighting for their lives. After spending 19 consecutive weeks at the foot of the table Leicester managed to escape the jaws of relegation at the expense of Hull, Burnley and QPR.
Since then Leicester have not spared a thought for the struggles of last season. Over a quarter of the way through the new season and Leicester have only lost once and currently sit in fifth, three points away from leaders Manchester City. So the question is, can Leicester City still be within reach of a Europa League spot once the season is only a few games away from ending? Or perhaps, better still, could they be in contention for the most unlikely of rewards, a Champions League berth?
With regard the Champions League, the smart money says no. The teams above them are too powerful, their squads are larger than Leicester’s and both Manchester teams along with Arsenal, Tottenham and perhaps Liverpool and Chelsea, if they can drastically improve upon their seasons, will be better placed to take the spoils due to their experience in a Champions League chasing situation.
So where will Leicester end their season? It is quite likely that their season will fizzle out around Christmas time as the hectic fixture list along with their restricted squad will begin to become a burden. However, if they can manoeuvre the difficult festive period relatively unscathed injury and loss wise, then they will begin to believe that they can fight for a place in Europe.
Irrespective of how they would actually fair in Europe, the prospect of silverware would make Leicester a far more attractive prospect to the better players that crave European football. With this in mind, an influx of players at Leicester would aid in both their squad size, especially important at Christmas. It would bring in better players therefore improving the team and an inflated squad promotes competition for places forcing players to constantly work at their peak in order to gain a starting berth.
But away from the possible future, what have Leicester been doing which has allowed them to improve so much? The managerial factors should not be underestimated as Nigel Pearson returned to the club in 2011 and was able to gain promotion as Champions to the Premier League at the end of the 2014 season.
Pearson was unwavering in his managerial style and while not afraid to speak his mind, the owners kept faith with him during their stuttering spell last season. In turn, Pearson backed his team and was able to pull them through their most difficult period in the 2014/15 season.
Pearson was replaced as manager by Italian Claudio Ranieri and has been able to improve upon the fortunes of his predecessor as Leicester have been in fine form this season. 19 points from 10 games has come as a result of five wins and only one defeat which have accompanied 20 goals. The Foxes are just short of a return of two points per game which is a startling return considering their form at certain times last season. Their transfer dealings have also been very impressive. Shinji Okazaki, Nathan Dyer, Gokhan Inler and Robert Huth were all recruited to bolster the Leicester team. But perhaps more interesting is the players they have been able to keep. Jamie Vardy has been in fine form at the beginning of the season with 10 goals in 10 games and is currently the Premier League’s top scorer.
His superb form has coincided with the electric form of Riyad Mahrez who has scored five goals and has been the catalyst for the early part of Leicester’s season. A propensity to attack even when they seem to be down and out has meant they have salvaged a point from 2-0 down against Southampton and Stoke City while they have managed to come back from two goals down and claim all three points against Aston villa.
In their recent clash with Crystal Palace, it was once again the Vardy-Mahrez connection as Leicester battled to a 1-0 win over fellow high flyers Palace. However, their 5-2 defeat to Arsenal saw Leicester’s style of play matched. In hindsight, putting two men up front to start was perhaps foolish but Leicester would have been brimming with confidence after their unbeaten start and would have backed themselves against anyone. This sense of confidence and invulnerability will be key in how far Leicester go this season. If they can reach the apparent safety of 40 points by the 25th game of the season, which is in no way out of their reach considering their good form. This will mean that they have a further 13 games to accumulate points and push towards what would have been an unprecedented top half finish. This could perhaps have the players and fans dreaming of stealing a spot in Europe, thus capping their remarkable rise in the Premier League.
Source: DSG
