How will Leicester fare in the upcoming Premier League season?
Last season, 5000/1 outsiders Leicester City incredibly won their first top flight title in their 132 year history. Claudio Ranieri's team upset all the odds and proved many doubters wrong to win the Premier League in just their second season in the league since being promoted from the Championship. Their return to England's top division came in the 2013/14 under their former boss Nigel Pearson after a decade out of the top flight that saw them drop to League 1, England's third tier. Pearson was sacked after he kept Leicester up by the skin of their teeth following a remarkable turnaround in results towards the end of the 2014/15 season, but was sacked due to off-field antics.
A year on, Leicester go into their new season as defending champions and have been involved in a pre-season tour that has involved a victory over Celtic, albeit after a 1-1 draw that saw Riyad Mahrez score, a disappointing 4-0 defeat to Paris Saint Germain and a 4-2 defeat to Barcelona that gained a few positives, particularly the introduction of record new signing Ahmed Musa, who scored twice, the first of those a solo run from the half way line that left the Barca defence for dead.
Jamie Vardy featured for the Foxes against Barcelona.
The question is, can Leicester emulate the success the enjoyed last season? In this article I will cover all of the factors that conclude Leicester's chances of retaining the Premier League crown.
The loss of N'Golo Kante
The midfield partnership of N'Golo Kante and Danny Drinkwater was crucial in helping Leicester to the Premier League title last season, but with the loss of Kante in the midfield, may Leicester struggle to retain the excellent defensive record they had last season. Without Kante protecting the back four and intercepting passes they have already struggle to keep out goals in pre-season, conceding 9 in 3 Champions Cup games.
Signing players to new contracts
Jamie Vardy, Danny Drinkwater, Wes Morgan, Kasper Schmeichel and manager Claudio Ranieri have all signed or began talks to sign new contracts, which is crucial in preparing for the new season. Riyad Mahrez also looks likely to stick with the foxes, despite last season's player of the year being linked with a move away from the King Power Stadium.
Pressure of being favourites
Will Leicester crumble under the pressure of being the favourites? Leicester set out last season with a game plan that meant they soaked a lot of pressure and released a devastating counter attack with the pace of Jamie Vardy and the creative spark of Riyad Mahrez spearheading their attacking threat. But will they struggle if teams come to the King Power to defend for 90 minutes and park the bus, will they have the talent to break down a well organised defence?
New signings
Leicester have secured the services of Luis Hernandez from Sporting Gijon, Nice midfielder Nampalys Mendy as a replacement for Kante, Ahmed Musa from CSKA Moscow for a club record 15 million pound deal, young Polish star Bartosz Kapustka and 'keeper Ron-Robert Zieler from Hannover.
Ahmed Musa looks like a quality acquisition in attack, the versatile Nigerian forward impressed at the 2014 World Cup and can play on both wings and as a striker, so could form a lethal partnership with Vardy. He too possesses great pace and also the ability to run onto balls in behind the defence, much like Vardy. Bartosz Kapustka is a signing that speaks volumes of Leicester's ambition to remain at the top of English football. The young Pole, signed from Cracovia, played at Euro 2016 and scored on his national team debut in the qualifying campaign. He is one for the future, and can compete with Demarai Gray and Mark Albrighton for a spot out wide in the starting 11. Ron-Robert Zieler is a goalkeeper who can provide much needed competition for Kasper Schmiechel in goal, and has played some part in pre-season.
The Big Clubs
However overall I think Leicester's biggest challenge is getting the better of the fresh looking big boys such as Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea, who all have new managers and new signings such as Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Paul Pogba, Leroy Sana and Michy Batshuayi.
In conclusion I think Leicester have every chance of retaining a position in the top four, but will struggle to mount a title challenge due to the simple fact that Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola are taking over the two Manchester clubs and have been given huge budgets to spend on transfers.
