This has to be a question that has baffled the minds of all the football supporters around the world. Leicester City are having a dream run in this season’s EPL and are right now 7 points clear of 2nd placed Tottenham with 5 more games left to go. This is the same team that was battling with all force to somehow avoid relegation last season. What a difference a year makes. This also proves us the point that if you play with heart and soul, you are bound to succeed. With Leicester winning their last match away at Sunderland, they are now almost sure of a place in next season’s Champions League next season.
This brings us to the question whether Leicester will have this good run of form in Europe next season. Can they dominate big teams in Europe like they have done in the EPL this season? Can they win matches and proceed to the advanced stages of the Champions League? Well, personally I feel that Leicester will falter next season, both in the Champions League and EPL. They will not be able to maintain their dominance In both home and away matches especially in Europe. I give my prediction based on 2 basic factors. Let us have a look at them.
Fatigues and injury-
This is going to be the one of the major factors that will hurt the Leicester team next season. It was all fine and good this season as the EPL was the place the current bunch of Leicester players were competing in. Next year they will be competing in at least 3 or 4 competitions and that’s when the team’s stability will be tested. With more games, the players will get fatigued and will have more chances of getting injured. Once that starts happening it’s going to be very hard for Leicester to maintain the same level of performance they have maintained this season. One can take example from the current Arsenal side. For the past 3 season they have been in top team form till the first half of the season. By the second half their key players get injured and the team gets fatigued and hence they lose out on winning the EPL. The level of performance in the first half and second half vary a lot. Imagined a Leicester side that has Vardy out injured for a month. Or imagine them having to play key matches without Kante or Mahrez because of injury. Definitely Leicester won’t be able to produce the same level of performance as of the current season when their key players will be out with injury. Plus the fatigue to the entire team will hurt them very badly. When the current team will be made to play more than one match per week, fatigue is bound to cover the team.
Big money moves-
This is an age old story. When a smaller club produces good displays in one season due to good performances of some players in the team, the big money clubs come in like a hungry pack of wolves and take away the best players from that team. One recent example can be of Southampton. They had a brilliant season in the 2013-2014 season and teams like Liverpool and Manchester United have picked up their best players since then. The likes of Adam Lallana, Luke Shaw, Nathaniel Clyne, Morgan Schneiderlin etc. were all been good performers of that Southampton team from the 2013-14 season. Same goes for any other team who are not winning the league but are producing good quality players in their team. Even the likes of Arsenal couldn’t stop its key players from joining the likes of Manchester City and Barcelona. The players too want to leave because of their ambition to play for a bigger club. Truth be told, Leicester might win the EPL this season but they will still be considered as a small club who made it big in the 2015-2016 season. Some players in the current Leicester team are only been sought after by big clubs. Players like Mahrez and Kante are supposedly being monitored by clubs both in the EPL and elsewhere in Europe. Claudio Ranieri has already told that it will be tough to hold on to Kante and he might leave next season. With important players leaving the team, there is no way Leicester can succeed in Europe or EPL in that matter.