MANCHESTER, United Kingdom, Dec 20, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Leicester may never
again scale the heights of shocking the world to win the Premier League four
seasons ago, but the Foxes are upsetting the odds once more as the closest
challengers to Liverpool at the top of the table.
Brendan Rodgers’s men travel to Manchester City on Saturday four points
ahead of the champions as the side in need of the victory to keep the title
race alive.
Liverpool’s absence from league duty this weekend to compete in the Club
World Cup gives Leicester the chance to cut the gap at the top to seven
points.
Win their next two games and Liverpool’s advantage will be down to four
points as the European champions then visit the King Power on their return
from Qatar on Boxing Day.
Back-to-back wins against a side that have won five of the last six
domestic trophies in England and a Liverpool team that has lost just once in
their last 56 league games is a massive ask.
But the fact Leicester now believe it is possible is testament to how far
the club have come since Rodgers took charge in February.
When the Northern Irishman returned to the Premier League after two-and-a-
half successful seasons at Celtic, Leicester were languishing in 12th.
Ten months on, they are well on course for a return to the Champions
League next season.
Leicester have a 13-point cushion over fifth-placed Tottenham as they look
to become the first club outside Liverpool, City, Tottenham, Chelsea,
Manchester United and Arsenal to finish in the top four since they last did
it as champions in 2015-16.
Silverware could also be just over two months away as Rodgers’s men booked
their place in the semi-finals of the League Cup on Wednesday.
“Everyone wants to win trophies of course. We have to fight, we are not
entitled to win,” said Rodgers.
“We just have to fight and work very hard at our game, and if we can do it
great, but as long as we can make progress and develop, then that will be
great.”
– ‘Incredible quality as a manager’ –
The progress made is undeniable, but not a surprise to Rodgers’s opposite
number on Saturday.
Leicester nearly halted City’s title charge on their last visit to the
Etihad when Pep Guardiola’s men needed a late thunderbolt from departed
captain Vincent Kompany to claim a 1-0 win in their penultimate league game
of the season.
“Brendan shows his incredible quality as a manager,” said Guardiola that
night.
Rumours this week have suggested Rodgers may even be lined as City’s
preferred candidate to succeed Guardiola once the Catalan brings his time in
Manchester to an end.
Leicester reacted quickly to the restoration of Rodgers’s reputation in
England after a difficult end to his time at Liverpool in 2015 by handing him
a bumper new contract to 2025 earlier this month.
That foresight is in keeping with an exceptionally well run club that has
not been derailed by the death of owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha in a tragic
helicopter crash in October last year.
Only Kasper Schmeichel and Jamie Vardy remain as regulars in the first
team from the side that won the league three-and-a-half years ago.
Money from the sales of N’Golo Kante and Riyad Mahrez has been wisely
invested in the likes of James Maddison, Ricardo Pereira and Wilfred Ndidi,
while England international Ben Chilwell and Harvey Barnes have come through
the club’s academy.
A 12-game unbeaten run means Leicester have more points now than at the
same stage of their title-winning campaign.
Liverpool’s relentless run means this season is unlikely to have the same
fairytale ending.
But just splitting the two sides that combined for 197 points last season
at this stage of the campaign is a remarkable achievement in its own right.