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Leicester City have seen an upturn in their fortunes under manager Brendan Rodgers in the Premier League this season. Following their 1-4 away win over Aston Villa, they have now won a club record eight games on the trot which leaves them second in the table, eight points behind leaders Liverpool and six ahead of reigning champions Manchester City in third place.
They boast the best defensive record in the English top-flight this season and the best goal difference as well. Also their talisman from the 2015-16 title-winning season, the evergreen Jamie Vardy is in red-hot form, finding the back of the net on 16 occasions in as many starts in the league matches.
If not for Jurgen Klopp's rampant Liverpool, they would've been the clear favourites for the title at this point of time and with the Reds looking unstoppable at the moment, it is only logical that many are discounting the chances of a title charge from the Foxes.
Though they may be flying high under the command of the Northern Irish manager, how much longer can the East Midlanders continue their free-scoring run in the league? Will Rodger's men prove themselves to be as sly as a fox and pounce on the off chance of Liverpool letting a sizeable lead slip away?
Well, following a superb first half of the campaign, here are the three reasons why we think Leicester's title charge will not run out of steam anytime soon.
#1 A well-established starting XI under an astute manager who has been part of a title race before
Brendan Rodgers is a manager with proven credentials and came close to Premier League title triumph himself with Liverpool but fell agonisingly short in the 2013-14 season.
When he was sacked by the Reds in October 2015, he headed to Scotland and achieved tremendous success with Celtic and also broke the 100-year-old British unbeaten domestic record with a 69-game unbeaten run.
Though he reached the pinnacle of his career in Scotland, he had some unfinished business in the Premier League. And when he got the offer to manage one of the former champions of the league, it was too good to pass up.
He has turned the tide around at the King Power Stadium, implementing a style of play that is not only effective but also highly attractive to watch. In the past 10 months, he has built a squad with a balance of young and experienced players who press and end up winning the ball high up the pitch.
His squad is incredibly well-balanced and there are players in every part of the pitch who are on top of their game. The young midfield trio of James Maddison, Wilfred Ndidi and Youri Tielemans have been excellent in the middle of the pitch for the Foxes and deserve praise for their contributions so far.
He has brought a more direct approach to their gameplay which relies on the slickness, the quickness and movement of the players. Offering him a new contract was a very smart move from the club management that is bound to yield rich dividends for the club in the foreseeable future.
He is an experienced manager and can guide the club through many ups and downs that might pop up as the seasons progresses to keep their challenge alive.
Also Read: Best Premier League XI outside the traditional top six this season
#2. Solidity in the defensive third
The Foxes have played some really eye-catching football this season and their attack, spearheaded by Vardy, has already made waves across the top-flight as they continue to rip apart the opposition defences.
Though scorelines like 9-0, 5-0 and 1-4 in their favour make it very clear that Rodgers' men are lethal in front of the goal, it is their defence that has impressed the most this campaign.
Leicester are the leaders in almost every defensive metric of the Premier League, with seven clean sheets, least goals conceded and the most tackles made. They have one of meanest defence across Europe's top five leagues, with only Ligue 1 behemoths Paris Saint-Germain conceding fewer goals than them. Interestingly, The Foxes are yet to concede from a set-piece situation this season.
Though Harry Maguire's departure in the summer left them a little lightweight in the defensive department, in the commanding and composed Caglar Soyuncu, who has been a revelation this season and the highly experienced Jonny Evans, Rodgers has found the perfect centre-back duo that suits their style.
With these two solid centre-backs flanked by the marauding Ben Chilwell and Ricardo Periera, he has a well-balanced backline that shields goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel from any incoming threat.
Nigerian midfielder Wilfred Ndidi is one of the best defensive midfielders in English football right now. Sitting just ahead of the back-four he puts in the work as a tough-tackling, no-nonsense guy, breaking up plays even before the opposition can sneak into their defensive third.
Pereira and Ndidi are the top two tacklers in the league at the moment, with 70 and 69 successful tackles to their name in 16 and 15 appearances respectively.
#1 No European football
The Foxes progressed into the Carabao Cup quarter-final defeating third-tier side Burton Albion in October, while they are also in the round of the FA Cup, so, along with these two competitions, the Premier League remains their only hope of any silverware this season, as they failed to qualify for any of the UEFA competitions last season, following their ninth-placed finish last term.
The best thing about not having to worry about European football for any club is that the squad effectively plays only once every week. For a coach, this means that the players get ample rest in between the fixtures and he doesn't have to resolve to squad rotation as a measure to compensate for an unforgiving schedule.
Not only does Rodgers always has a fully fit squad with all of his key players at his disposal before every league fixture, but fewer games played also mean that the chances of losing out a player to injury go down.
As an outcome of the time afforded to them by the lack of European football, Rodger's Leicester have now amassed more points and scored more goals than they did at the same stage during the 2015-16 campaign.
Also Read: Jamie Vardy scores in eight straight PL games
