Leicester City can dream about the New Year
Last year at Christmas, Leicester City were bottom of the table. After an impressive start to life in the Premier League, the highlight being their 5-3 win over Manchester United, they quickly began to slide down the table. That they are top of the table 12 months later in the new season is miraculous. No one has collected more points than the Foxes in 2015. Part of the credit must of course go to Nigel Pearson who was somewhat unlucky to get the sack, but Claudio Ranieri has been a revelation. Their 3-2 win over Everton epitomised their season. Although they are indeed conceding goals, they are so exhilarating on the counter-attack and with the tools of Vardy and Mahrez as well as the engines of Ngolo Kante and Danny Drinkwater, they are a match for anybody. The club must do its best in January to enhance the depth of the squad; they are genuine title contenders.
Frustrating Everton continue to disappoint
For all the attacking talent they have reaping rewards, a statement reflected through Everton’s 31 goals (only Leicester and Manchester City have scored more), their defending continues to be catastrophic and is why they are 10th in the table after the loss to the Foxes. When the flowing football is not at its sharpest, and Saturday was one such day, there needs to be a backbone, another way for grinding out results. Against a team whose play is based around counter-attacking, the Toffees were naive. The three goals scored by Leicester were all conceded alarmingly easily. More worrying is that Roberto Martinez does not seem to know how to iron out these problems. This criticism is not to say that Everton change the way they play, but they simply cannot challenge for a European place like this.
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