A month and a half into the season, and things are starting to look familiar at the top of the Premier League — with one exception.
While three of last year’s top four — Manchester City (first), Manchester United (third) and Arsenal (fourth) — find themselves in their standard positions, the club currently in second, Leicester City, is a team that even its most ardent supporters didn’t expect to be in contention.
On Sunday, the team pulled off the comeback of the young season, smashing in three goals in the final 20 minutes of play to defeat Aston Villa, 3-2. But what was most impressive is when forward Nathan Dyer fearlessly beat Villa keeper Brad Guzan to a cross for the 89th minute winner, it wasn’t all that surprising.
That’s because Leicester have made impossible comebacks something of a specialty in 2015.
In late March, it appeared as if the team’s latest stay in the Premier League would be a short one. The team was languishing in last place with just two months left in the season, the only really noteworthy event coming courtesy of hot-headed then-manager Nigel Pearson, who’d curiously wrapped his hands around the throat of Crystal Palace’s James McArthur during a game in early February then was reportedly fired, though the club claimed that wasn’t the case the next day (he’d also call a reporter an ostrich in a delightfully unhinged rant towards the end of the season).
The only chance at survival was to go on an unprecedented run, and that’s just what the team did, winning seven of their final nine matches to finish in 14th place.
Unfortunately, Leicester’s supporters weren’t able to savor their improbable survival for long. Weeks after the close of the season, the club was embroiled in an embarrassing scandal while on a goodwill tour of Thailand, the home country of owners King Powell International. Video of three players, including Pearson’s son James, engaging in an orgy with local hookers they also saw fit to racially abuse leaked online after at least one of the men decided to share it with one of his “mates” back home in England. As you might have guessed, the players were soon cut, and weeks later Pearson was gone too, the club calling its relationship with the coach “no longer viable.”
Fans were crushed Pearson wouldn’t be there to guide their team through the wilds of a second season in the top flight. And hiring Claudio Ranieri as manager didn’t exactly soothe things over. Though the Italian has managed some of Europe’s top clubs, his recent track record was lacking to say the least — including leading the Greek international team to a beyond-humiliating defeat to the Faroe Islands last November. But what might have stung most was when the club’s talisman, Esteban Cambiasso, decided not to renew his contract with the club, instead moving on to Olympiacos in Greece.
So, yeah, coming into the season, there wasn’t too much to get excited about if you were a Leicester fan. It didn’t help that pundits everywhere, including this one, were predicting near certain doom for the team, with almost everyone agreeing they were set for relegation.
But then the season started, and across five games Leicester has made everyone look like a fool. The club has recorded three victories in the opening weeks, and, like leaders Manchester City, have yet to lose a game (they’ve drawn twice). That fine form leaves them with 11 points after five games, one up on established powers Manchester United and Arsenal.
But unlike those two teams — along with other supposed contenders Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham — Leicester’s success is coming with a bunch of nobodies. Well, that’s not really true, but no one on the club’s roster is going to land on the cover of “FIFA” any time soon. The closest thing the team has to stars, Algerian winger Riyad Mahrez and English forward Jamie Vardy, are barely blips on the consciousness of those outside the club’s fan base.
(Despite netting three goals this season, Vardy might be most famous to American soccer fans because of a video that leaked during the first week of the season in which he repeatedly calls a man a racial epithet at a casino.)
The team has been able to confound expectations by continuing the rampaging style of soccer they played during the final two months of last season. Leicester is a team that is constantly driving forward, something awfully rare in the Premier League this season. Unlike higher-priced teams, Ranieri’s squad isn’t easily discouraged. If the game plan is not working, they keep on trying different approaches until they finally break through, a philosophy that was on full display during Sunday’s thrilling comeback victory.
As fun as Leicester’s early season success has been to watch, their current second-place position in the table is most likely this season’s peak. But does that even matter? It may be early, but Leicester has gotten here by playing thrilling, forward-pushing soccer that its fans can enjoy and be proud of at the same time. Regression towards the mean will happen — the team hasn’t played anyone of note yet — but this team has already proven it’s much better than many. Plus, do you really want to count them out?
Notes from a crumbled empire
Even before this weekend, it was clear that the Liverpool-Manchester United matchup wasn’t what it once was. Yes, the rivalry between the country’s most successful clubs is still its most glamorous, but it lacks the meaning it once held.
As if to remind everyone of this fact, the first half of United’s 3-1 victory on Saturday was nearly unwatchable, even for the diehards. Both teams looked unable and unwilling to take chances, and the high octane soccer that marked this rivalry for decades was completely absent. Things were much better in an exciting second half, including two wonderful goals in the game’s final 10 minutes, one from Liverpool’s Christian Benteke (more on that later) and another from United’s latest signing: Anthony Martial, the world’s most expensive teenage soccer player.
While United fans can feel cautiously optimistic about a fairly easy victory over their hated rivals, Liverpool fans might be tempted to hit the panic button right now. Having lost its best player two seasons in a row (Luis Suarez and Raheem Sterling), the club looked completely lost over the weekend, as they have for much of the season. The offense, which is supposedly manager Brendan Rodgers’ specialty, was slow and ponderous, never really threatening keeper David De Gea, except for a few minutes after United’s opener. And the defense — well, the less said about it, the better.
Liverpool has theoretically winnable games coming up before an Oct. 3 showdown with its other big rival, Everton, and Rodgers better hope he can get his team working before then. If not, the manager’s four-year run at the top of the club could be up before the new year. Unfortunately for him, it’s starting to seem like fans wouldn’t mind that outcome one bit.
Goal of the week
Despite an otherwise incompetent offensive display, Liverpool’s Benteke scored what was easily the goal of the week (and an early leader for goal of the year) on Saturday. In the 83rd minute, the Belgian acrobatically twisted through the air to fire and unstoppable bicycle kick past United keeper David De Gea. It was enough to give Liverpool fans hope … for all of a minute, before their rivals scored another goal to put them out of their misery.
Card of the week
Players behaved for the most part, but the same can’t be said of Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho. After his team was soundly defeated 3-1 by Everton, the lovably controversial coach directed a foul-mouthed outburst at his opposite number, Roberto Martinez, for not letting him get his post-match interview out of the way first. Mourinho’s reasoning? He was in a hurry to get on the bus and head back home to London.
The Post’s Premier League Rankings
After five weeks of play, and with the transfer deadline and first international break in the rear view mirror, there’s finally enough evidence to start ranking the league’s teams. Here’s how we see things right now.
1. Manchester City
2. Crystal Palace
3 (tie). Arsenal
3 (tie). Manchester United
5. Leicester City
6. Everton
7. Swansea
8. Norwich
9. Southampton
10. West Ham
11. Liverpool
12. Chelsea
13. Tottenham
14. Watford
15. West Bromwich
16. Bournemouth
17. Aston Villa
18. Newcastle
19. Stoke
20. Sunderland