Leicester City have encountered a difficult campaign after the heroics of winning the Premier League title last season. For much of the campaign, the Foxes were struggling near the bottom of the table, which lead to boss Claudio Ranieri being sacked.
His replacement Craig Shakespeare has steadied the ship and Saturday’s 3-0 win over Watford moved the Foxes into ninth place in the Premier League table. Nobody expected the champions to mount a title challenge this season.
It was always going to be a case of the Foxes dropping down the league slightly. Nobody foresaw how far they would drop when they were struggling under Ranieri, though. However, maybe the champions are now occupying a more realistic position in the Premier League table.
Last season was certainly a one-off. They do have decent players, but momentum and team spirit, coupled with the big clubs struggling for consistency led to the greatest shock in Premier League history.
There was no doubt that the players underperformed under Ranieri in the Italian’s last few months in charge of the club. England striker Jamie Vardy, in particular, struggled to recapture his form of last season.
However, Vardy’s form has picked up in recent months. He has now scored five times and produced one assist in his last nine appearances for the Foxes. It is not exactly the form of last season, but it is certainly better than his early season form.
The Foxes have lost just once in their last five games in all competitions and have recorded back-to-back Premier League wins without conceding a goal. Recent displays have been more like the Leicester of last season.
Most Leicester fans will have been realistic about this season and their team’s aims. A top-half finish and a very creditable run in the Champions League certainly would not represent a terrible campaign for last season’s surprise champions.