Leicester City, a club that struggled to remain in the Premier League last season is now the front runner to win the English title with 13 matches left on the schedule.
Who would have imagined that we would be talking about Claudio Ranieri’s Leicester doing anything other than running for their lives from the ghost of relegation? Much less that we’d be talking about them beating Manchester City and Arsenal for the Premier League title.
Well, at least, one guy did. At the beginning of the EPL season, 38-year-old carpenter Leigh Herbert put down a £5 bet on the foxes to win the title at 5,000-1 odds. Now the carpenter finds himself with a real shot at turning that £5 into £25,000 should Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez finish what they started.
Check out Herbert’s full story at BBC.
TICKETS: #lcfc's Premier League clash with Newcastle United on 14 March has now sold out. #LeiNew pic.twitter.com/BXnIhErX8K
— Leicester City (@LCFC) February 9, 2016
Now back to Ranieri’s team. Can they actually finish the season on top the EPL table? To put it simply in an Obama-ish way: Yes they can.
The main reasons are their momentum, and especially their mentality.
The Foxes have won four out of their last five matches, the latest of those wins against City. They’ve only lost one match in the Premier League since October. Ranieri’s team did pick up losses and got knocked out of both the League Cup and the F.A. Cup. Nevertheless, those losses might play out in Leicester’s favor.
Leicester City Interview
Mahrez and Huth talk after the 3-1 win over City
From here on, all that Vardy and his teammates have to worry about is winning Premier League matches, while the minds of the other three clubs running for the EPL title have other competitions to worry about.
Both City and Arsenal are in the tournament round of the UEFA Champions League, and making their runs in the F.A. Cup. The Citizens also have a clash against Liverpool for the League Cup title coming up at the end of the month.
Tottenham, currently lying in second place in the EPL standings, is also making a run at the F.A. Cup title, as well as the UEFA Europa League.
While these clubs will spend a lot of time facing the Barcelonas of the world, the Foxes will get the extra time to practice and study their upcoming opponents in the final third of the season.
First of which, as fate would have it, are the Gunners.
Alexis Sanchez is the only man who seems to have figured out Leicester’s defense this season. In their first match, one of two matches the Foxes lost this season, Sanchez terrorized Robert Huth and Wes Morgan. The Chilean scored a hat-trick at King Power Stadium and led Arsenal to a 5-2 victory.
Now, the battle-hardened Foxes will be looking for some revenge at Emirates Stadium.
After facing their nemesis, Sanchez, Leicester won’t have to worry about a direct matchup against any of the three challengers for the title. The closest thing to a contender they will have to face is Manchester United at the end of April, while Spurs, Arsenal, and City all have matches against each other.
It won’t be easy to seal the deal, but who would dare to doubt the Foxes after they turned 5,000-1 odds into 7-1?
