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While the majority of news stories regarding the Premier League this season have surrounded the potential signings and exits at Manchester United, Frank Lampard taking over at Chelsea and Tottenham finally spending money on new talent, one side has quietly flown under the radar but has also been strengthening their squad at the same time.
Brendan Rodgers’ Leicester City side – who famously won the Premier League in a massive upset in 2015/16 – finished in 9th place last season but under Rodgers, who took charge in late February, the Foxes hit a rich vein of form, winning 6 of their last 11 games including a big win over Arsenal. And they haven’t stayed still this summer either, breaking their record transfer fee twice to bring in Ayoze Perez and Youri Tielemans.
With the traditional top teams in the Premier League seemingly in flux, could this be the season that sees Leicester break into the Champions League again? Quite possibly – and here are 3 reasons why it might happen.
#1 They have a remarkably strong squad
Leicester might not have the strength in depth of a team like Manchester City or Liverpool, but there’s definitely an argument to be made that their first XI could compete with any other side in the Premier League – including all of the so-called ‘Big Six’. Veteran goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel and a central defensive partnership of Harry Maguire and Jonny Evans form a powerful back-line, and in Ben Chilwell and Ricardo Pereira, the Foxes also have two of the league’s better full-backs.
A midfield that can call upon the talents of Youri Tielemans, Wilfred Ndidi, James Maddison, Demarai Gray and Hamza Choudhury is nothing to sneeze at either, and upfront they have one of the most formidable strikers in the league in Jamie Vardy – and they now have Ayoze Perez to back him up, too.
Assuming Rodgers isn’t hit with an injury crisis at any point, there’s no reason why Leicester’s first XI would fear any side in the Premier League. Sure, injuries could definitely test the quality of the squad, but that’s also assuming that the Foxes’ super-rich Thai owners don’t spend any more money this summer.
Essentially, the only thing that could harm Leicester right now is if they sell a top player like Maguire or Maddison, who have been linked with the likes of the Manchester sides and Tottenham – but all of their top players are under long contracts and don’t seem like the types to attempt to force a transfer. With talent like this on their books, if any side can break the grip of power that the ‘Big Six’ currently hold, it’s Leicester.
#2 Brendan Rodgers is a winner
Detractors of Leicester would probably point out that, new signings Tielemans and Perez aside, the Foxes had all of their current talent at the beginning of 2018/19 and only managed to finish 9th. The truth, however, is that former boss Claude Puel was a functional manager at best, and his defensive nature meant that he was never truly equipped to get the best out of the likes of Vardy, Maddison and Gray.
Brendan Rodgers, on the other hand, is another matter entirely. Sure, his somewhat self-important, quotable style has seen him compared to the notorious David Brent character from The Office, and it is true that his tenure at Liverpool ended badly. But before that, the Northern Irishman made his name as one of Europe’s most exciting young coaches, and in reality, little has changed since then.
Rodgers is a man who led Swansea to the Premier League in 2010/11 and had the Welsh side playing football that was even compared to Barcelona at times, and when he took over Liverpool he immediately improved them too and almost took them to the Premier League title in 2013/14, with the Reds only falling at the final hurdle.
And while people scoff at the Scottish Premiership, you just can’t ignore Rodgers’ phenomenal record at Celtic; he won two domestic trebles at the club and was on his way to a third before moving to Leicester last season.
Criticise his ego if you like, but there’s no disputing that Rodgers is a winner, and he’s got a remarkable amount of self-belief in his style. And more to the point, the attractive style of football that Rodgers likes his sides to play - playing out from the back at pace with a lot of quick passing and movement – should mesh perfectly with the players at his disposal at the King Power Stadium.
If any boss can make Leicester’s extremely talented side believe that they can push for a Champions League spot, it’s Brendan Rodgers; this is a partnership that simply feels right for the club.
#3 The top sides have never looked so vulnerable
A few years ago the Premier League’s top four – Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal – looked untouchable, but that wasn’t the case as Manchester City and Tottenham were able to break into that group and turn it into today’s so-called ‘Big Six’. Despite the success of those clubs though, going into 2019/20 they’ve never seemed quite so vulnerable.
A side like Leicester aren’t likely to catch up with Manchester City or Liverpool any time soon, and now they’ve started to reinforce, Tottenham seem a step ahead too. But Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea are hardly on firm ground this summer, and for a side like Rodgers’, they could well be there for the taking.
Chelsea have an interesting mix of young prospects and strong veterans, but those prospects are largely unproven at the Premier League level, they’re under a transfer ban which will prevent them from bringing in any reinforcements, and their new boss Frank Lampard is hugely inexperienced, too.
United meanwhile have spent big on Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Daniel James this summer, but those signings aren’t likely to win them the league; players with big reputations like Paul Pogba and Romelu Lukaku seemingly want out of Old Trafford as soon as possible, and like Lampard, boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is inexperienced – and has already been found wanting at times. While they’re slightly more settled, they still feel a lot like a club in disarray.
Arsenal are more settled than Chelsea and United, but question marks still hang over manager Unai Emery when it comes to a league campaign, and while their striking duo of Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang are fantastic, they have holes throughout the rest of their squad and if reports are to be believed, they don’t have the money to seal the gaps.
Essentially, if a side like Leicester want to break into the cartel at the top of the Premier League – and qualify for the Champions League – this is the season to try to do it in. And with those three big teams looking shaky, there’s every chance that the Foxes could pull off another miracle.
