Claudio Ranieri’s team are overperforming in key areas,statistics show, and the moment half of the season is likely to be a lot tougher than the firstSo much for Leicester City stumbling, or being swallowed up,slipping back to their rightful place. Instead another week starts with them loitering bloody- mindedly in the mix. Not so long ago their success was assumed to be a byproduct of a soft early schedule and Jamie Vardy’s hot streak. Since then that narrative has mutated like a virus, enveloping Riyad Mahrez’s supreme gifts and those in the boiler room, or such as Danny Drinkwater and N’Golo Kant,along the way. The Foxes are hugely better than was all assumed. That much is clear. The crucial question now is where their wiles and willpower may lead them over their final 16 league games.
Any such assessment should probably start with luck something Claudio Ranieri’s men have not necessarily enjoyed grand dollops of this season. This is strange. As Omar Chaudhuri, the head of Football Intelligence at 21st Club, and explains,respectable fortune is often behind surprise Premier League success and, when that evaporates, and clubs quickly regress to their underlying performance levels.
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Source: theguardian.com