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Can Leicester City win the Championship?

Can Leicester City win the Championship?
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Just seven years after winning the Premier League, Leicester City found themselves relegated from the top flight of English football.

The carcass of Leicester City was plucked by teams around England over the summer following relegation to the Championship.

Indeed, it was an offseason of complete change for the Foxes. A new manager arrived, and several players exited the King Power Stadium.

The most high-profile player to leave the club was James Maddison, who is proving to be one of the bargain transfer buys of the season for Tottenham. Yet, his exit has helped revitalise and improve Leicester City.

The Foxes go in round No. 6 of the Championship season in third place. They are just one point off first-place Preston North End.

The Championship season is long and winding, and six matches is not much of a sample size.

But Leicester City have looked impressive to start the campaign. Twelve points were taken from the opening 15 points on offer for Leicester.

Four consecutive wins to start the season were followed by a surprise 1-0 loss to Hull City before the international break.

Although it was a shock loss, Leicester City are good enough to rebound from it. The Foxes outscored their opening five opponents 7-4. Three of their five matches finished with 2-1 scorelines.

To say Enzo Maresca’s team is the finished article would be a mistake. Leicester City are a work in progress and can only get better.

Like Burnley hiring Vincent Kompany in 2022, Leicester City turned to a Pep Guardiola disciple to resurrect their fortunes.

Maresca has turned Leicester into a possession-heavy team. They are second in the Championship in possession, with 62.5% of the possession per game.

The team is turning possession into shots. Leicester average 17.6 shots per match. They are second in passing accuracy, with 88.6% per fixture.

Maresca is leading a revolution at the King Power Stadium after the failures of Brendan Rodgers after he led the club to the FA Cup trophy in 2021.

If there is a problem with Leicester City currently it is their lack of goals from the possession and shots per game stats.

Midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and forward Kasey McAteer lead the team in goals, with two each.

Strikers Kelechi Iheanacho, Jamie Vardy and Patson Daka have shot blanks so far. There is a belief that once the strikers start firing, Leicester will be able to run away with the Championship.

Bookmakers have Leicester City as the favourite to win the Championship at odds of 3.50. Leicester City’s squad is packed with quality. If the team can overcome their shock loss to Hull City, the Championship trophy could be theirs.

Championship Regular Season
OVERALL TABLE PTS GP W D L +/-
1
Leicester City 97 46 31 4 11 48
2
Ipswich Town 96 46 28 12 6 35
3
Leeds United 90 46 27 9 10 38
4
Southampton 87 46 26 9 11 24
5
West Bromwich 75 46 21 12 13 23
6
Norwich City 73 46 21 10 15 15
7
Hull City 70 46 19 13 14 8
8
Middlesbrough 69 46 20 9 17 9
9
Coventry City 64 46 17 13 16 11
10
Preston North End 63 46 18 9 19 -11
11
Bristol City 62 46 17 11 18 2
12
Cardiff City 62 46 19 5 22 -17
13
Millwall 59 46 16 11 19 -10
14
Swansea City 57 46 15 12 19 -6
15
Watford 56 46 13 17 16 0
16
Sunderland 56 46 16 8 22 -2
17
Stoke City 56 46 15 11 20 -11
18
QPR 56 46 15 11 20 -11
19
Blackburn Rovers 53 46 14 11 21 -14
20
Sheffield Wednesday 53 46 15 8 23 -24
21
Plymouth Argyle 51 46 13 12 21 -11
22
Birmingham City 50 46 13 11 22 -15
23
Huddersfield 45 46 9 18 19 -29
24
Rotherham 27 46 5 12 29 -52

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