When Sergio Aguero scored a last-gasp winner for Manchester City against QPR to secure the 2011/12 title, Sky Sports commentator Martin Tyler claimed: “I swear you’ll never see anything like this again” although he’d conveniently forgotten that Michael Thomas did something similar at Anfield in 1989.
Tyler also couldn’t have foreseen that four seasons after his favourite Argentine stole the crown of champions from the heads of Manchester United, something even more remarkable was about to happen in the English Premier League.
Leicester City had spent most of the 2014/15 season at the foot of the table. Having won the Championship the previous campaign, the Foxes started the season brightly, winning 1-0 at Stoke before a fantastic 5-3 win over Manchester United where they came from 3-1 down.
However, that result was followed by a run of thirteen games without a victory, something which saw the Midlands side plummet down the table. A mini-resurgence over Christmas was then followed by another slump although April and May brought the sort of form that could set a team up very nicely for the following campaign!
Indeed, it’s easy to forget that Leicester won seven of their final nine top flight matches during the 2014/15 season which didn’t just see them out of the bottom three but actually into a finishing position of fourteenth. Champions Chelsea were the only side to beat them and a certain Jamie Vardy was starting to find the net regularly.
Pearson sacked and the Tinkerman returns
During that particular campaign, Pearson had regularly been favourite on the infamous Premier League Sack Race market, with bookmakers pricing up which manager will leave their respective post next.
The feisty Yorkshireman had regularly clashed with the media and famously called one journalist an ostrich, although it appeared as though the City manager had had the last laugh and would continue in the long-term at the King Power Stadium.
However, some off-the-field indiscretions involving Pearson’s son during a pre-season tour of Thailand left the Leicester City owners feeling embarrassed and it’s possible that they wanted a change of personnel after a season of disappointment which had only been sweetened by the performances and results in April and May.
Nevertheless, it’s fair to say that Claudio Ranieri was not a popular choice when the Italian was announced as the new Foxes gaffer. The Italian had previously managed Chelsea in the Premier League although that was over a decade ago and his previous job had seen him struggle badly to get a tune out of the Greek international side.
Supporters were also nonplussed when the club spent £5.6 million on the unknown N’Golo Kante from Caen, with scout Steve Walsh having orchestrated the signing, much in the same way that he had previously arranged for Vardy and Riyad Mahrez to join.
The bookmakers take a dim view of Leicester’s chances
It’s become well-known that City were as big as 5000/1 to win the 2015/16 Premier League title. After all, we were all led to believe that only a handful of teams could be champions, with previous winners coming from a select group of clubs like Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal and Manchester City.
The bookies were therefore happy to chalk up the Foxes as one of the “rags”, with only diehard Leicester supporters interested in risking a cheeky tenner on their team usurping some of their richer and more powerful rivals.
Indeed, there was far more staked on Ranieri’s team being relegated and the odds on Leicester going down were 7/1, which many felt was a tasty price. After all, Esteban Cambiasso hadn’t been persuaded to remain with the club and the Argentine was regarded as a big reason as to why City had previously escaped the dreaded drop.
The 2015/16 season was to begin on Saturday 8 August, with new boys Kante and Christian Fuchs on the bench for the visit of Sunderland. The fans were feeling encouraged by some of the pre-season performances although nothing could prepare them for what lay ahead!
Foxes show character from an early stage
It’s well-known that Leicester only lost three matches during the course of the entire Premier League campaign, although the Foxes’ odds remained at 5000/1 for the title while the bookies continued to treat their early season brightness as a novelty.
After a helter-skelter 4-2 victory over Sunderland was followed by a 2-1 win at West Ham (with Mahrez having a stormer in both games), Ranieri’s new charges then drew successive games against Tottenham and Bournemouth. A dramatic 3-2 win over Aston Villa was followed by a 2-2 draw at Stoke before Arsenal came to the King Power and won 5-2.
These final three games were pretty illustrative when it came to determining the course of Leicester’s title-winning campaign. Against the Villans, City trailed 2-0 with twenty minutes left although a feverish King Power helped them turn the game on its head.
At the Britannia Stadium, Stoke also took a 2-0 lead before their Midlands rivals hauled themselves back into the match, while the Foxes gave a fantastic account of themselves against the Gunners before Alexis Sanchez ran them ragged.
Nevertheless, Leicester had twelve points on the board from their first seven matches and the fans were certainly enjoying the ride. Ranieri was throwing caution to the wind and the Foxes were averaging more than two goals per game, even if the defence was yet to keep a clean sheet.
Interestingly, Danny Simpson and Christian Fuchs came into the team for a 2-1 win at Norwich City in the next game, with the manager identifying the full-back positions as a weak area for the team. The Foxes has reached fifteen points and the bookmakers finally took notice by cutting their title price from 5000/1 to 1500/1.
The comebacks continue and Vardy is a record-breaker
It’s worth noting that most Leicester supporters still weren’t entertaining the prospect of European football at this stage. Certainly not Champions League participation, nor a realistic shot at the Premier League title.
After all, Crystal Palace had as many points on the board, while Manchester City, Arsenal and Manchester United were stationed higher in the table. Fans instead felt encouraged by the gap between their team and those at the foot of the table, especially given the amount of time spent in the relegation zone the previous campaign.
Indeed, the media focus actually centred harder on a particular player within the Foxes ranks than the team itself. Jamie Vardy’s late penalty at Bournemouth might have seemed inconsequential at the time, although the 28-year-old then scored in his next four games before heading off on England duty.
After the international break, the goals kept coming for a forward who had been operating for non-league Fleetwood as recently as the 2011/12 season. In fact, Vardy had spent the bulk of his career playing as an amateur with Stocksbridge Park Steels, Halifax and then Fleetwood.
This rags-to-riches angle had the media in a frenzy as the speedy forward scored against Southampton and Crystal Palace, while further goals came against West Brom, Watford and Newcastle. Scoring at St James’ Park meant that Vardy had matched Ruud van Nistelrooy’s Premier League record of scoring in ten consecutive matches.
However, the best was yet to come as the former Sheffield Wednesday trainee scored against Manchester United after the Foxes had defended a corner, only to break in typical fashion and the ball was fired past David de Gea moments later.
Jamie Vardy was “having a party” as the chant went, although his goals would ultimately help lay the foundations for an even more amazing achievement come May, not that anyone was forecasting this yet.
Again, it’s worth pointing out that some of Leicester’s victories in the autumn of 2015 were achieved the hard way. Southampton were another team leading 2-0 before being pegged back and West Brom took the lead before the Foxes ran riot at The Hawthorns. Confidence and belief began to course through every player in that Leicester squad and they were practically “safe” from relegation at this stage.
Foxes hit the summit but they’re still 100/1 shots
On 21 November after winning 3-0 at St James’ Park, Leicester became Premier League leaders. The supporters were in dreamland and the bookies tentatively shortened Ranieri’s team of warriors to 100/1 and the prospect of playing in the Europa League next season was beginning to look realistic.
Nevertheless, Louis van Gaal’s Manchester United sat a point behind, with Manchester City and Arsenal sitting two behind them and seemingly waiting to pounce.
By this stage, Ranieri had a very settled team. Kasper Schmeichel was proving to be a safe pair of hands in front of a defence which comprised of Simpson, Huth, Morgan and Fuchs. New boy N’Golo Kante was seriously impressing as the midfield anchor alongside Danny Drinkwater, with Riyad Mahrez a star turn on the right wing and the understated Marc Albrighton on the opposite flank. Vardy was scoring in buckets, while Jose Ulloa or Shinji Okazaki operated as the hard-working foil.
The Foxes’ fearless approach saw them collect three more wins on the spin, with Swansea, Chelsea and Everton the victims, although a 1-0 defeat at Anfield on Boxing Day suggested that Mahrez and Vardy were starting to burn out. Goalless draws at home to Manchester City and Bournemouth followed, were the wheels finally coming off Leicester’s season?
The Foxes scent finally picked up by the bookies
On 24 January 2016, something momentous happened. The bookies made Leicester City a viable candidate to win the Premier League title. A 1-0 win at White Hart Lane, a 1-1 draw at Villa Park and a 3-0 victory over Stoke suggested that the Foxes weren’t going away. They had no European distractions and no pressure on them after cruising past the 40-point mark.
Ranieri had also succeeded in tightening the defence quite markedly. Kante had become a huge presence in midfield, while Morgan and Huth were having the season of their lives and working in tandem as Leicester started to rack up the clean sheets that would be imperative if they were to challenge for the title.
On 2 February, Leicester beat Liverpool 2-0 and were now down to 5/1, although Manchester City’s fortunate 1-0 win at Sunderland saw the layers go even money about a team whose experience of challenging for honours would surely give them an advantage?
Manchester City demolished but Arsenal hand out another defeat
Saturday 6 February was a defining day in the 2015/16 title race. Leicester were 3/1 shots to win at the Etihad Stadium, although they had now become an unstoppable force and Manchester City were unable to deal with a team who had engendered the sort of togetherness that had rarely been seen before.
A Robert Huth brace and a special from Mahrez saw the Midlands outfit claim a 3-1 victory and not only was Champions League football on the cards but City were now 7/4 favourites to win the title.
A draw at the Emirates in the next game would have been a great outcome for the Foxes and it was very nearly on the cards until Danny Welbeck scored at the death to land a maximum haul for Arsenal.
The home supporters whooped with delight and the gap had now been reduced to two points. The Gunners were 13/8, Tottenham were 5/2 and Leicester were out to 11/4. However, Ranieri’s team would recover from this setback immediately and go unbeaten for the remainder of the season.
Leicester’s five-match winning run puts them in pole
A sketchy 1-0 victory against Norwich was followed by a shaky 2-2 draw with West Brom as the nerves started to jangle. However, Leicester knuckled down to secure four successive 1-0 triumphs and then a 2-0 win at Sunderland.
This new approach relied on defensive composure and a willingness to let the opposition see plenty of the ball, with Morgan marshalling a defence that stayed firm and rode their luck at time.
By this stage, Arsenal had dropped badly off the pace and Spurs were also failing to capitalise on the opportunity that they had created. A 4-0 thumping of Swansea followed a 2-2 draw with West Ham, with the Foxes 1/20 and on the verge of an unprecedented achievement that nobody could have forecasted.
After a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford, Leicester knew that a Tottenham failure to win at Stamford Bridge the following evening would see them crowned champions. Despite the visitors taking a 2-0 lead, Chelsea clawed it back and pandemonium ensued in the east Midlands.
