It is absolutely crazy to think that just a year ago, Leicester City was seven points from safety, in danger of being relegated after just one season back in the Premier League.
We laughed at their owner saying that his team would be contending for a Champions League spot within three years.
Hell, I even predicted that the Foxes would fighting relegation down to the end of the season.
Instead, Leicester is seven points up on Spurs and seemingly bound for the first title in the club’s history.
After watching Spurs play to a draw at Anfield, it opened the door to expand their lead atop the table. It took the opportunity with vigor against Southampton, even handing out donuts and beer to celebrate its chairman’s birthday.
This was Tottenham’s last chance to put pressure on Leicester by playing before them, now it will be the Foxes with the earlier kickoffs for the remainder of the season.
But being seven points up with six games to play, it might not matter. The race is on to 80 points for Leicester, as if it can secure 11 more this season, it will clinch the title – and that’s if Spurs win their final six fixtures.
Arsenal has a game in hand, but is 11 points back, all but ending its title hopes and Manchester City is even further back, needing a miracle to hoist the cup.
There is still work to be done and couple of tough fixtures ahead, but this season’s title looks like it’s Leicester’s to lose.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
After some early season struggles due to exhaustion from a long summer playing international football with Chile, Alexis Sanchez has seemingly found his terrific form for Arsenal.
With a goal and an assist against Watford, Sanchez now has two goals and three helpers in his past four games.
If the Gunners want to hold on to their Champions League place and even think about challenging Spurs and Leicester for the title, he’ll certainly need to keep this up.
AROUND THE LEAGUE
Andy Carroll’s braids are a thing of wonder … Am I the only one that thought Chiek Kouyate deserved the red card he got? His leg was up during that slide tackle and he didn’t get the ball. It seemed dangerous and was the right call … Everton’s loss at Old Trafford was just its second away loss of the season. That’s pretty incredible when you consider it has lost eight games at home … With no more international breaks this season, we’re truly in the home stretch. The only thing is that many teams still have European and FA Cup fixtures to play, creating a crunch for some sides … Antonio Conte has signed on to manage Chelsea, but when will he take charge? Due to a 2012 match-fixing charge, he could be suspended for six months. Wonder how this will impact the Blues’ summer signings.
RELEGATION ROUNDUP
It looks like Aston Villa has already accepted that its run in the Premier League has come to an end.
One of the few teams that have played in every Premier League season, Villa now faces a near-impossible climb to safety. The Villans are 15 points behind 17th-place Norwich and have only collected 16 points all season. Yes, it’s that bad.
Even worse, manager Rene Garde left the team last week and won’t go down with this sinking ship. All hope is lost in the Midlands.
Newcastle looks like it’ll be going down as well after losing a relegation six-pointer to Norwich. The Magpies are now six back of the Canaries and needed that victory to jump back closer to safety.
Even with new manager Rafa Benitez, this team looks bound for the Championship for the second time in a decade. But we don’t expect the Spaniard to stick around if that’s the case.
Sunderland’s scoreless draw with West Brom was actually the best result for a bottom-three side this week. The thing is, one point wasn’t enough to make ground on Norwich.
If both Newcastle and Sunderland go down, it will be a very bleak 2016-17 season in the northeast of England. But at least the Tyneside Derby will still be played.
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