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20 teams in 20 days – Leicester City

By on August 3, 2014

Manager: Nigel Pearson
Stadium: King Power Stadium
Nickname: The Foxes
Finish Last Season: 1st (Championship)

Leicester City are just always there. In the club’s 121 year history in the Football League, they have never dropped below the second divison. And since they first reached the top flight in 1907, they have never been outside of it for more than a consecutive decade. Now, after their longest drought without top flight football for more than half a century, they are back in the Premier League.

Nigel Pearson lead the club to their seventh Championship title last season, thus winning their side promotion, but this season it is undoubtedly going to be a different story. Last season they were a club that all around, were the best in the league. They allowed the third least in the league, while only Derby County score more than them. That all around strength was ease on them the league last season. But coming into the Premier League season tipped for relegation, this could be their weakest point – that fact that neither their attack or defense was the sole reason for their promotion. To survive in the top flight, most clubs attempt one of two things. Either to attack their stronger opponents and hope for a goal loaded win, or make their home a fortress with their defense. Crystal Palace, for one, went fort he defensive approach last season and allowed less than some teams in the top five, but only scored less than a third as many goals as the league champions, Manchester City. Leicester’s talent just seams far to scare and spread.

The club’s most expensive player, goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, is worth just €3.5 million, according to data published by Transfermarkt. Their biggest talent in the outfield comes in the form of Marc Albrighton, Ritchie de Laet, and an aging Matthew Upson. And the little they have been able to invest in their squad this summer has gone all into Leonardo Ulloa, and despite his high scoring rate for Brighton & Hove Albion last season seems overpriced at more than €10 million. The club have certainly improved tenfold since their near relegation from the Championship just a few years back, but the stability and so called “marginal gains” brought in by Pearson doesn’t look well when it comes up against a massive talent jump into the top divison.

Certainly, a tough introduction with early matches against Manchester United, Arsenal, and Everton, won’t give the club an easy jump. Only if the club can survive those early three fixtures and find their form come the holidays will they have a good chance at survival. But even with relegation, Leicester will benefit for years to come with the money involved in the top flight. It looks like Leicester will still be on the radar for at least the next few years.

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.