Leicester continue to rumble rivals with five-point lead at the top

It’s getting closer. Just under a quarter of the season to go and Leicester City are STILL top of the Premier League table. But that is something I seem to be saying more and more these days. In fact I am beginning to wonder if our name might just be on the prestigious trophy.

Now I am not saying, as some pundits are, that this is the season no-one wants to win the league, but every time we have a slight slip, our main rivals seem to have bigger ones. People said we had thrown away two points when we were unable to beat West Bromwich Albion and had to settle for a draw, but should we ask Manchester United about that after they recently lost to them?

But the following night after being held by the Baggies, all of our main rivals lost and that point didn’t look so bad after all.

Then, only last weekend, we managed to earn three points in a hard fought win over Watford after Tottenham and Arsenal had only shared the points in the North London derby. This sees clear daylight appear between ourselves and second-placed Tottenham with a five-point gap.

Is Leicester’s name on the Premier League trophy? Photo: Simon Stacpoole/Offside.

On paper we have the easiest run-in of all the top five teams, but in many ways you could also say it’s the hardest. When we play the so-called top teams, they allow us to play our counter attacking style as they also play for the win.

The problem with playing teams further down the league is that most of them are still fighting for their safety. They look to sit back and allow us to attack hoping to then catch us on the break, which is what we like to do to the opposition. If that fails and they sit back, defend and manage to take a point of us, many will see that as a positive having been able to hold the league leaders. That means we could be looking at a lot of hard fought 1-0’s with plenty of nails being bitten!

Newcastle are next up live on Sky. A 3-0 win in the reverse fixture earlier in the season, couple with the Toon’s current predicament should see a Foxes win. However, Newcastle are fighting for their lives, and with their manager fighting for his job – the club could even have a new boss by then – this may not be the easy win we might expect. But let’s be glass half full rather than half empty.

Every week I think this might be the week it starts to go wrong, but every week Leicester prove me wrong. The wheels are most defiantly still attached to the wagon.

Even when Riyad Mahrez pulled up during a run against the Watford defence and every Foxes fan held their collective breath, this only proved to be cramp and not the feared hamstring injury. N’Golo Kante’s own hamstring problem proved to be less worrying than expected with him missing only the one game.

And what happened when he missed that game? His replacement, Andy King, only went and scored a goal.

So maybe, our name is on the trophy, maybe someone up there is looking favourably down on us, or maybe the so-called fat lady has lost her voice.

Whatever it is, the dream goes on.