5 Premier League teams that can threaten the Top 6 in the 2018/19 season

#2 Leicester City

Notts County v Leicester City - Pre-Season Friendly

The two seasons after the miracle of 2015-16 have been mediocre for Leicester City as they finished in mid-table. In both occasions, Leicester suffered a nightmarish start to the season resulting in the firing of their manager (Claudio Ranieri and Craig Shakespeare respectively) before recovering under their new managers.

Now they go into a new season with Claude Puel, who previously worked wonders with Southampton and effectively steered the ship for Leicester at the end of last season. Considering that Leicester lost their best player Riyad Mahrez and may lose their best defender Harry Maguire, many are underestimating the Foxes this season.

Yet, what has gotten ignored is that the players still at the club constitute a great team. In Kaspar Schmeichel, they have the best goalkeeper out of the Premier League Top six. Meanwhile, Wilfrid Ndidi (still only 21) averaged the most tackles in the league last season and provides an excellent shield to their defence. Meanwhile Demarai Gray, Marc Albrighton and Adrien Silva provide creativity in their attack.

While Jamie Vardy may be ageing, the Foxes have a successor for him in the team already with Karachi Iheanacho. While the Nigerian struggled last season, he is still only 22 and his class was evident at Manchester City.

Iheanacho can be supported by his fellow Nigerian Ahmed Musa who returns from Loan. Musa’s talent was clear in the World Cup (when he scored two goals) and perhaps Puel may make the best use of his talent (Shakespeare failed to).

Moreover, Puel has managed to shore up Leicester’s defensive weaknesses in the transfer window. The signing of Jonny Evans provides a replacement for Maguire, who was excellent over the past few seasons.

Meanwhile, Ricardo Perreira was one of the best players in the Portuguese League last season and his signing gives Leicester one of the league’s best right-backs. Leicester may not be able to repeat the feats of 2016, but they still have a good chance of entering the Top Six.