There is no doubt last season was a rare occurrence in the Premier League. Leicester City came out of nowhere to win the title and fully deserved their victory for the way they played. It was an astonishing moment in the history of English football and propelled Leicester into the Champions League.
The Foxes won their group to qualify for the Round of 16, despite a heavy defeat by Porto in their final group game. However, in the Premier League they have been struggling and if last season made Leicester famous across the world, this season could see them on the lips of football fans once more, as they attempt to avoid the drop.
Trends show Leicester have won just one of their previous nine Premier League matches. This is a run which has seen them drop down to 16th in the league table ahead of the weekend’s fixtures. Sitting on 13 points from 14 games played, Claudio Ranieri’s team are only 2 points off the relegation zone and if the Foxes lose this weekend and results go against them, they could slide into the relegation zone.
Their opponents, Manchester City, are coming under criticism ahead of this game, having lost 3-1 at home to Chelsea last weekend. It was Manchester City’s first defeat in seven Premier League games and trends show Pep Guardiola’s team have won their last three Premier League away games in a row. This is not the form of a team who are struggling. However, question marks have been raised over the way Manchester City have been defending.
Manchester City have kept one clean sheet in their last nine Premier League games and only Liverpool have a worse defensive record out of the current top five teams in the table. Both teams have scored in Manchester City’s last seven matches in all competitions and this sums up perfectly their attitude towards games. Going forward they have looked good and created plenty of chances but at the back, they look like they are going to concede every time they are asked to defend.
A look at Leicester’s previous six Premier League games shows a similar trend and both teams have scored in each of them, meaning we could be in for a very open and exciting game at the King Power Stadium this weekend. With Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool all playing at home and strong favourites to win their matches, Manchester City cannot afford to drop points. The suspension of Sergio Aguero will be a big loss to Guardiola and Fernandinho will also miss out in the midfield, so changes need to be made. Ranieri rested many of his first team regulars in mid-week and will hope they return fresh and ready to deliver.
This is set to be a very exciting match, full of goal scoring opportunities. It’s rare Leicester go into a home match at half-time in the Premier League losing and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see a lot of goals in this game.