Flourishing Foxes – Leicester’s Impressive Run

Before the beginning of the season, you probably didn’t expect the top royal blue team to be Leicester after 5 games, did you?

It’s only a mere few months ago where, with 9 games to go, Leicester were bottom of the Premier League having won just 4 games all season. Then, on April 4th, the fifth win of the season came for the Foxes after beating West Ham 2-1. Following on were victories against West Brom and Swansea City which finally lifted Leicester from the bottom and up to 18th, before a fourth successive win against Burnley meant Leicester finally escaped the drop zone at the end of April, having been there since November.

Another three wins (alongside a loss to eventual champions Chelsea and a draw against Sunderland which saw their survival a success) meant that Leicester – 20th and last for exactly half the season – finished 14th in the Premiership.

See the range of Leicester City designs here.

Then, there was the off-season chaos. Controversy which led to the dismissal of Nigel Pearson as manager could’ve unsettled the team, but with Claudio Ranieri in charge, Leicester have resumed this season where they left off – in fine form.

As a result of three wins and two draws, Leicester find themselves sitting pretty in 2nd place, four points off current leaders Manchester City (who not only have won all five games, but also yet to concede a goal).

Of course, there’ll be questions about how good the team is: since their run began in April, they’ve only face two considered “top” teams in Chelsea (lost) and Tottenham Hotspur (drew) – but the team is fully aware that their position near the top is unlikely to stay around. Even after the 3-2 win against Aston Villa on Sunday, Ranieri said the first target is to get 29 more points (to reach the ever-talked about “40 points” safety target). What should be noted is where the Foxes would lose points in matches where they could’ve gained last season are the points they’re making sure they get this time around.

So what could Leicester really be targeting? The obvious pick outside of avoiding relegation is finishing above their 14th place from last season, but could a top 10 be on the cards? Admittedly after only 5 games it’s possibly foolish to even have a guess, but let’s see if the run continues. After all, the next big game is on the horizon against Arsenal on September 26th…

Ashley Redman
PunkFootball Blogger Guy