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Premier League Mid-Season Report: Leicester City – Faltering Foxes?

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It has been a season of highs and lows for Leicester City. Injuries to key players have not allowing the Foxes to progress the way they would have hoped.

Season so far

It has not gone Leicester City’s way this season. Last years FA Cup winners have had a mixed season so far, marred by long-term injuries to key players and poor form. The highs of beating Manchester United and Liverpool at home, to being comprehensively beaten at West Ham, it is looking like one of those seasons for the Foxes.

Leicester may be one of the highest scoring teams in the Premier League, but they have been shambolic at the back at times, conceding the fifth most goals in the league. There is a faint hope of claiming European football this season, but that is a long shot.

The Manager

This season just hasn’t gone the way that Brendan Rodgers would have hoped for. Losing star defender Wesley Fofana a week before the season began was a major blow for the Foxes manager. Long-term injuries to Jamie Vardy and Jonny Evans have only made the issue worse.

Rodgers has been able to mastermind some superb victories against much stronger opposition, but too many times this season have Leicester been unable to defend a lead. If Rodgers can get the Foxes tightened up at the back, then they will have a better second half of this season.

Player of the season so far

James Maddison has been the brightest spark so far for Leicester this season. Six goals and three assists in the league is encouraging for a player that is only getting better and better.

Maddison has hit top form in recent months, with Foxes fans dreaming of an England recall for the midfielder. With Youri Tielemans expected to leave in the summer, Maddison is the player that Leicester need to build a team around if they are to progress further.

Signing of the season

With Jamie Vardy and Kelechi Iheanacho the only recognised centre forwards at Brendan Rodgers’ disposal, Leicester needed to bring someone in, enter Patson Daka. Signed for £27 million from Austrian side RB Salzburg, Daka has been mainly used from the substitutes bench, but certainly impacts the side when introduced onto the pitch.

Three goals and three assists so far in the league, as well as becoming Leicester’s all-time top-scorer in Europe already, Daka definitely has more to show. The Zambian is getting better with each passing game, and with Vardy 34-years-old, Daka looks the set to be the man who leads Leicester forward.

Most disappointing player

He may be one of Leicester’s main contributors this season, but Youri Tielemans has been below-par so far this campaign. Tielemans has not been up to the high standard that we have seen from the Belgian in previous seasons. With only eighteen months left on his contract, Leicester may look to sell up before losing the midfielder for pennies next season.

Grade so far: D
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