Jamie Vardy has been in scintillating form for Leicester this season
LONDON (Reuters) – Leicester City will be wary of a reality check when the Premier League front-runners visit Arsenal on Sunday at 1:00pm, before Tottenham Hotspur’s burgeoning title ambitions come under scrutiny at Manchester City, four hours later.
A quirk of the fixture list has pitted the top four against each other and although there are still 13 matches to go, this weekend could prove pivotal.
Against all the odds, Leicester have sustained their push for a first-ever English top-flight title, and their magnificent 3-1 win at Manchester City last time out finally convinced bookmakers to install them as favourites.
Tottenham’s odds for a first English title since 1961 also shortened after they eased into second spot, five points behind Leicester, with a narrow victory over Watford last weekend.
While Arsenal and Manchester City, third and fourth respectively, are familiar with the home stretch of a title chase, once described by former Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson as “squeaky bum time”, Leicester and Tottenham are entering unfamiliar territory.
Leicester spent most of the past decade outside the Premier League, while Tottenham’s target is usually a top-four finish, something they have achieved only twice since 1992.
With the pressure mounting, Arsenal, who are also five points behind the leaders, will probe for mental cracks having inflicted one of only two league defeats this season on Leicester.
Mesut Ozil has pulled the strings for Arsenal
That was a 5-2 hammering at the King Power Stadium in September — a result many expected would precipitate a return to the lower regions of the table.
Instead, it sparked a 10-match unbeaten run that was halted by Liverpool in December, since when Leicester have scaled the summit on the back of another seven-game stretch without defeat.
Arsenal are chasing a first title since 2005 but …Read More
Source:: PM Newspaper
