2016 marked an unprecedented year when the impossible and unthinkable happened. Underdogs Leicester City emerged from the ashes of being nearly relegated, to put together a superb effort which saw them lift the title at the end of it.
Across the gameweeks, many experts tipped them to fall off or lose momentum which would have seen one of the Big Six clubs take home the championship. But that did not happen, and Claudio Ranieri’s men gave it their everything and broke the shackles to do so. However, nearly 5 seasons on, can the Foxes do it once again and repeat history?
Leicester head into the international break on the back of a 1-0 win against Wolves. They have won 6 games so far and sit top of the table with 18 points after eight matches being played.
Brendan Rodgers has done a good job in recent times building a capable squad with relatively lesser financial resources and smart scouting abilities. However, there has been scepticism and criticism of his management style and motivation.
At the end of the day, Leicester do not have a consistent track record of winning the bigger trophies year in and out. Rodgers who once coached Liverpool had a great chance to win the league with them in 2014 but ultimately surrendered with a meek challenge.
Even last season, they were right in the race for a Champions League spot and had built great ground ahead of the likes of Manchester United and Chelsea. But the players just couldn’t get into the right frame of mind and coupled with the pandemic uncertainties, they were left reeling with 5th and had to contend with a Europa League place.
Leicester albeit very talented and creative, have lesser experienced players compared to their 2015/16 squad. That might see them struggle to notch up results in crunch games, and their morale could go the other way.
So all in all while Leicester are definitely a fabulous contender and their league win achievement will always be remembered by everyone in the footballing community, it might just be tough this time around with a close title race in the works and rivals continually improving to produce wins as well.
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