A Top Flight Throwback Thursday: Leicester’s Fairytale Title Win

When the season started, Leicester picked up where they had left off the previous campaign.

With a wage bill that amounted to a quarter of that of the defending champions, Chelsea, Ranieri’s charges won their opening fixture 4-2 against Sunderland.

A quick glance at the scoresheet shows that Vardy and Mahrez both bagged goals on that day. No one realised that it was a sign of things to come.

Early in the season, Leicester relied on their fast-paced counter attacks to beat opponents, but despite only losing once in their opening nine fixtures, Ranieri was concerned with their defence. He promised to take the side out for pizza if they kept a clean sheet. His side responded by beating Crystal Palace 1-0, and Ranieri extended the incentive to cover the rest of the season.

Throughout the first half of the season, Jamie Vardy could not stop scoring. He broke Ruud van Nistelrooy’s Premier League record by scoring in eleven consecutive games, as the Foxes battled to a draw with van Nistelrooy’s old club, Manchester United.

The sight of Vardy, possessed with manic energy, harrying and hassling defences, using his sheer pace to burst past hapless centre-backs, was electric. His finishing was an expression of pure catharsis, a man hitting the ball as hard as he could, intent on either scoring or taking off the keeper’s head.

It was juxtaposed with Mahrez on the right-wing, all silken touches and drops of the shoulder. The Algerian was a revelation, gliding along the pitch, drawing in defenders with his hypnotic elegance. You always knew he was going to cut inside on his left, yet he was impossible to stop.

Behind the two, N’golo Kante quietly went about his work, covering more ground than everyone else, the cleanup crew after the tandem demolition act had rolled through.

Still, no one believed they could do the impossible, and actually win the thing. Their form had to drop off soon.