Leicester outline intentions with gritty Palace win

It didn’t take the Leicester fans long after Çağlar Söyüncü’s 57th minute at Crystal Palace to start singing about ‘going on a European tour’.

These chants soon bellowed suggestions their team would win the league again, perhaps slightly too ambitious even for a currently red-hot Leicester side.

Brendan Rodgers’ team currently sit in third position ahead of Frank Lampard’s Chelsea on goal difference and six points clear of fifth.

The Foxes’ performance of Sunday, a 2-0 win victory over Palace, displayed another dimension to a team containing to win plaudits.

Indeed opposing manager Roy Hodgson was full of praise for Rodgers’ men after the match when asked if a top-four finish if realistic for them:

“Well I think they’ve been building up to that. It’s not just the new players, quite a few of that team have been brought in over the last season and a bit. They’ve grown into their roles that they’ve been given, I think they’ve got a lot of very gifted players and of course what they carry, what we could be accused of not carrying, is a very clear goal threat.”

It wasn’t always the pretty, intricate football we have come to expect from a Rodgers Leicester team at Selhurst Park as the Foxes had to battled against a defensively solid Palace team.

Leicester had to ‘win ugly’ in south London. Despite almost getting in behind the Palace defence on several occasions, Jamie Vardy failed to find an opener with Söyüncü an unlikely hero.

The striker, seen below embracing his manager at full time, did eventually find the scoresheet late on to complete the victory and continue his impressive form this season.

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The ability to win in a different manner will no doubt be integral to Leicester as they attempt to continue their impressive start and secure their first foray into Europe since the 2016/17 season.

Rodgers was clearly delighted with his team’s performance in a tough fixture when speaking in his post-match press conference:

“It’s always tough to come here, they’re super organised, very compact and they set up on the counter-attack to really hurt you with the pace and peed they’ve got. I think we nullified that fairly well and always looked a threat once we’d got our rhythm in the game. To come and get a clean sheet, be defensively strong and look threatening is obviously very pleasing.”

As a youthful side which boasts one of the most talented midfields in the league in James Maddison, Your Tielemans and Wilfried Ndidi, Leicester fans have a genuine case to believe Champions League football may grace the King Power once more next season.

Should all their talent stay fit, the Foxes will fear no one as capitalise on the turmoil at normal top-four challengers such as Manchester United, Tottenham and Arsenal to stake their claim as one of England’s elite.

With Brendan Rodgers at the helm, Leicester seemed to have now found a formula which maximises the potential of their talisman James Maddison whilst reinvigorating Jamie Vardy into one of the league’s top marksmen once more.

They will now be favourites going into Saturday’s fixture with Arsenal, the Gunners knowing they will have to be at their absolute best to stop a firing Leicester continue their march towards Europe at the King Power.