LONDON, ENGLAND – MARCH 19: Leicester City supporters celebrate their team’s win after the Barclays Premier League match between Crystal Palace and Leicester City at Selhurst Park on March 19, 2016 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)

Something that was unthinkable in August, a pipe dream in October, slightly believable in January, somewhat believable in March and now a reality in May. Leicester City, at 5,000-to-1 odds to win the English Premier League at the start of this season, are English Premier League champions. Their first top division title in 132 years of operation.

After drawing 1-1 to Manchester United over the weekend, Leicester needed Chelsea to get a result against Tottenham to clinch the title for Leicester. With no love lost between the London rivals, Chelsea wanted to make sure they ended Tottenham’s title hopes any way they could. Eden Hazard even remarked how he didn’t want Tottenham to win the title.

The only way to describe the Chelsea/Tottenham game would be incredibly dirty. Bad tackles, 12 yellow cards and multiple fights between the two teams showed a team losing control and getting desperate in front of our very eyes.

After leading 2-0 at halftime, Tottenham was in complete control. Then the plot flipped and Chelsea scored two goals to gain the result needed to hand Leicester City the trophy they desired. And in storybook fashion, the clinching goal for Leicester was scored by none other than the man who said he didn’t want Tottenham to win, Eden Hazard.

As the final whistle blew, Chelsea and Tottenham may have been upset with each other but Leicester City came out the big winners. And though he had to be professional and impartial, NBCSN broadcaster and Leicester City fan Arlo White professionally celebrated the title won by his lifelong favorite team.

As far as the team was concerned, Leicester City players went to Jamie Vardy’s house to watch the game. As the game ended, Christian Fuchs captured the moment the players learned they were champions.

One notable person absent from Vardy’s house was manager Claudio Ranieri. Ranieri took the day off and flew to Italy to have lunch with his 96-year-old mother.

This story is something that couldn’t have possibly been thought of before this season. It’s tough to even fathom the unbelievability of this story. This is a team who should’ve been relegated last year and not even had a chance to be in the EPL. They were last in the table a year ago and went on an incredible run just to get out of relegation. This is a team where a sex scandal resulted in their manager getting fired right before the start of the season and should’ve pegged them for certain relegation this year. This is a team who has one of the lowest wage bills for their players, in a league where money spent equals success almost all the time. This is a team who plays a style that results in them having the ball just 40% of the time and prefer that their opponent have the ball most of the game. Even with all that, this team won 23 of 36 games and only lost three times this season. This team in this season defied any conventional and non conventional logic and they no doubt deserve to be immortalized as English Premier League champions.

About Phillip Bupp

Producer/editor of the Awful Announcing Podcast and Short and to the Point. News editor for The Comeback and Awful Announcing. Highlight consultant for Major League Soccer as well as a freelance writer for hire. Opinions are my own but feel free to agree with them.

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