This time, the bookmakers are warned. In 2016, Leicester surprised everyone: the club won the English championship. Today, here are the "Foxes" (the "foxes", as their logo also recalls). After seventeen games, and despite a disappointing draw at home against Norwich (1-1) on Saturday, December 14, the players are in second place in the Premier League this season. With a crazy hope: to repeat the exploit of three years ago.
With this first title, Leicester marked the history of the club. And that of English football in a nutshell, in a championship more used to surprise winners after the title of Blackburn (1995).
For the past three years? Almost nothing. After dreaming of fans around the world and giving a new illustration of David's cliché against Goliath, Leicester has remained stuck in the soft stomach of Europe’s toughest championship.
Little by little, part of the champions of England left the burrow: Ngolo Kanté joined Chelsea, before winning the World Cup with the French team; Algerian Riyad Mahrez signed in Manchester City; Danny Drinkwater, at United. As for the 2016 Italian coach, Claudio Ranieri even ended up being sacked in February 2017, due to poor results.
A "Vardy addiction"
Barely last season under the orders of Claude Puel, Leicester regained a taste for victory since the appointment of Brendan Rodgers to the position of coach in February 2019. Taken over by the Irish coach, the club displays a very good balance sheet: twenty victories (including a 9-0 in Southampton, the biggest victory away from the championship), for five draws and five defeats.
After eight straight league wins, Leiceister’s incredible momentum was stopped this Saturday December 14 by Norwich (1-1). Despite the draw, the Leicestersons remain solid second in the championship, with seven points more than Manchester City, third, and ten more than Chelsea, fourth.
Bredan Rodgers' men, on the other hand, are still far from Liverpool: they are ten points behind the "Reds", leading the championship. Third defense of the Premier League in its coronation and current best defense (only eleven goals conceded), Leicester is based on the same fundamentals as in 2016. And on the same man, thirties Jamie Vardy. The author of 16 goals in 17 games, the former fifth division striker is in the form of his life. While some commentators imagined this rather slow player in difficulty as he got older, the Englishman is still as effective. To the point that his team runs the risk of "Vardy addiction", since the native Sheffield scored 40% of his team's goals.
The pizza strategy
Jamie Vardy is not the only survivor of the 2016 England champion who already had Kasper Schmeichel, Demarai Gray, Daniel Amartey, Matty James, Ben Chillwell, Christian Fuchs and Wes Morgan in his ranks. In some ways, Brendan Rodgers’s team even looks like Claudio Ranieri’s: effective counterattacks and solid defense. But it also relies on innovations, a game more geared towards possession, intense pressing and the creativity of players like Tielemans and James Maddison. Already decisive last year, the latter has two assists and five goals on the clock, including three from shots outside the box. The midfielder is one of the revelations of this team of young players.
Asked about the East Midlands club’s success at a press conference on December 2, Pep Guardiola considered Leicester a serious contender for the title. " Leicester is doing incredibly well. When Brendan Rodgers took office last season, they changed the way they played ". Message received by the club leaders, who extended their coach until 2025, four days after this declaration.
Before the end of December at risk with confrontations against Manchester City and Liverpool, a little advice for Rodgers: to salivate the players. " I offer you a pizza if you don't collect a goal! ", Claudio Ranieri had promised them, in his time, before a victory against Crystal Palace (1-0). Not the most dietary, but effective.
