da jogodeouro： This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…
da supremo： A level head, but not quite in the right place.
Leicester City have made an incredible start to the season, and as a result, people are starting to wonder just how far they can go. Some are even suggesting that they are still very much in the title race.
However do Leicester ‘deserve’ to be in the position that they’re in, or have they been lucky? Former Foxes defender Matt Elliott believes it’s very much the former.
What’s he said?
Speaking to Sky Sports, Elliott said that although he wasn’t going to proclaim them as certainties for Champions League football, they deserved to be in the position that they’re in:
“They’ve got themselves in a tremendous position, and the thing is it’s not by a fluke, it’s there on merit.”
Not strictly true
Whilst credit has to go to Rodgers and his side for being as high as they are, to say that the whole thing has been down to them would be somewhat of a stretch. Much in the same way that Sheffield United have managed to make a great start to the season, part of that is solely down to some members of the traditional ‘top six’ going through a number of problems this season.
That is why it’s so imperative that Leicester carry on this momentum and, to borrow a phrase from one of Rodgers’ old players Steven Gerrard, ‘do not let this slip’, because they may never get a better chance this side of their 2016 title win.
Whilst they are to an extent playing with house money based on some pre-season predictions putting them outside the Champions League places and contending instead for Europa League football, those expectations have changed based off their start to the season.
If they were to stumble from their position now, it would possibly go down as a bit of a failure, particularly if the likes of Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United don’t get themselves out of their respective ruts.