Five years after achieving the unthinkable, Leicester is back atop the Premier League and making another improbable run at the title.
For big-spending Chelsea and their under-pressure manager, Frank Lampard, any ambitions of winning the league already appear to be dashed.
Leicester beat Chelsea 2-0 on Tuesday (Wednesday NZT) to jump above the two Manchester clubs, United and City, and reach the midway stage of its league campaign in first place.
Even if its latest time at the summit lasts just one night – City and United are both in action on Wednesday, after all – Leicester is showing it means business again.
Just like in the 2015-16 season, when the team managed by Claudio Ranieri famously delivered one of the biggest underdog triumphs in sporting history to win the league at odds of 5000-1.
Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers said it was “still too early” to talk about his team as title contenders.
“We’re at the top of the league because we work hard, we’re not there by fluke,” said James Maddison, who scored Leicester’s second goal.
“We’ll do our business in the background, let them talk about Liverpool, Man United and Spurs, we’ll just keep doing what we’re doing.”
Wilfred Ndidi and Maddison scored in the first half as Leicester extended their unbeaten run in the league to six games, the last three all being wins.
Chelsea were carved open time and again at the King Power Stadium and fell to a fifth loss in their last eight games in the league, a run of results that leaves Lampard’s position precarious after the club’s spending spree of approaching US$300 million (NZ$421 million) ahead of this season.
“It intensified for me a while ago,” Lampard said. “Because the expectations at this club, whether they are right or wrong, are always high.
“It’s not my decision [about whether he’ll stay as manager]. That’s something that will always be there.”
Lampard’s side dropped to eighth place, nine points behind Leicester, which is a point ahead of United.
