Premier League resumes this weekend with champions Leicester City travelling to North London to play title challenger, Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane.
When Leicester won the League last season, Spurs was the side that pushed it right till the end, apart from mini-implosion in the last couple of matches. Spurs overachieved last season on its Champions League qualification targets, as it found the stability and good football that propelled it to the status of title challengers and third place.
Spurs started this season justifying that status and is currently the only undefeated side in the Premier League, sitting on fifth spot with 19 points after nine games. Their over-reliance on Harry Kane’s goals upfront have cost it at least a couple of wins in the League already, as it has earned five wins and four draws from nine matches.
Winger Hueng Min Son has been in very good form so far. He scored four goals and providing two assists as he’s finally shown why Spurs invested in him last season. Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen have also lived up to expectations and manipulated the ball in sublime fashion, especially against Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City in the comfortable 2-0 home win.
As for Leicester, it is as manager Claudio Ranieri said, this season it has returned to normality with just 12 points from nine games. It managed to beat Alan Pardew’s Crystal Palace last week, to halt its recent barren run in the League. Last year’s talisman and Premier League Player of the Year, Riyad Mahrez, failed to appear at all this season, while mercurial striker, Jamie Vardy, managed only two goals so far.
Leicester suffered heavy defeats this season already, as it lost by 1-4 to both Liverpool and Manchester United at Anfield and Old Trafford, before it surrendered at Stamford Bridge the week before last to N’Golo Kante’s new side, Chelsea. Bearing in mind that record, it would be a miracle if Leicester could even wrestle a point away from the well-drilled, free-flowing football side that Spurs is. The rival will be doubly-determined to turn its draws into wins if it wants to gain early title momentum.
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