Ever since the beginning of the season, I have tried to find a way to not believe Leicester City could last. They don’t have the players, they don’t have the depth, they’ll collapse in December when they face all of these games one right after the other. I didn’t want to believe Leicester City could mount a challenge for the Premier League title because even though they have already defied incredible odds, there is still a long way to go before the season ends.
Entering their final game of 2015, Leicester City sit one point against Arsenal (who won Monday to take the lead). Worst case scenario and they lose, Leicester City will be a point out of the lead at New Years Day and best case scenario and they win, Leicester City will be two points in front and six points ahead of third place Tottenham and Manchester City. Win or lose against Man City, it’s time to start believing in Leicester City.
All season long, Leicester City, and the EPL season in general, has defied any and all logic. In August, logic would have had us predict Leicester City to lounge in the pits of a relegation battle while Chelsea would be a guaranteed top four team, especially after winning the EPL title by eight points. Logic would not have had us predict Jamie Vardy would break a goalscoring record or be able to win so many games after trailing.
Now as we enter the new year, there are still some concerning signs for Leicester City. For one, Leicester City have been incredibly lucky in injuries. Except for Vardy currently battling a sickness, Leicester haven’t had any other injury issues, unlike just about every other team in the Premier League. Another issue is that they must play six of the current top ten teams on the road in the second half of the season, including everyone in the current top six.
So if Leicester City is going to win the Premier League title or even get in the top four, they are going to have to earn it by visiting all of their positional rivals in their stadium. But considering nobody expected them to be this high in the table now, why should we simply assume they will follow conventional logic and fall back down.
Yes, Leicester City will drop points and they cannot keep this form up forever. But at the same time, there really isn’t anybody else who can mount a challenge to take control of the English Premier League. Every team has at least some glaring weakness, even leaders Arsenal, who seem to have someone getting injured every week. Maybe we shouldn’t be asking how Leicester City will drop, we should be asking how teams are able to catch up to Leicester City.
