PL 16/17 Predictions Series: Leicester City

My new series looks at the participants of the latest Premier League season. For previous posts, see below:

Arsenal, Bournemouth, Burnley, Crystal Palace, Chelsea, Everton, Hull City

Last season
The greatest shock in sporting history. Everyone, including myself, said they couldn't keep it up, that they would fold under the pressure. However, this just seemed to galvanise Claudio Ranieri's team, with the likes of Jamie Vardy, Riyad Mahrez and N'Golo Kante catching the eye with their consistency and flair.

In the end, they ran out comfortable winners, leading Arsenal by 10 points to claim their first league title in their history, and ensure Gary Lineker does the first Match of the Day in his underwear this season!

Backroom setup

Unsurprisingly, the Leicester board decided to keep Ranieri on this year, as well as the majority of his backroom staff. However, they did suffer a blow, seeing talent spotter Steve Walsh, behind the signings of some of their title-winning stars, poached by Everton.

Pre-season
A relatively short pre-season for the champions, but certainly testing! While they started and ended with relatively easier fixtures, with a 2-1 win against Oxford United and a XX over Chesterfield, they did have the season-opening Charity Shield match against Manchester United to contend with. However, in the middle was the little matter of the International Champions Cup, starting with a narrow 6-5 penalties win over Celtic after a 1-1 draw after 90 minutes.

The latter two games were daunting, however, with Paris Saint Germain teaching the Foxes a footballing lesson in a 4-0 thrashing. They did put on a better showing in a 4-2 defeat against Barcelona, but were again exposed as inexperienced at the highest level, which will make their inaugural Champions League season an interesting one.

The Foxes' pre-season came to a close with the Charity Shield match against Manchester United. Despite a valient showing, the Foxes were on the back foot for the entirety of the game, with a Marouane Fellaini mistake enabling Jamie Vardy the opportunity to level at 1-1. However, a late Zlatan Ibrahimovic header meant that they didn't hold on, sinking to a 2-1 defeat.

Squad and signings

Most importantly for Leicester was retaining the talent that managed to get them to the title last year. While they have lost N'Golo Kante to Chelsea for £32m, both Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez opted against joining Arsenal to remain with the Foxes.

In addition, Ranieri looked to strengthen further, bringing in a number of strong names from around Europe. Before the window had barely begun, Leicester had announced the signing of German goalkeeper Ron-Robert Zieler to challenge Kasper Schmeichel for the number 1 spot. Defenders Luis Hernandez and Napalys Mendy joined for free and £13m respectively from Sporting Gijon and Nice, while there were attacking reinforcements in Raul Rubio, Bartosz Kaputska and Ahmed Musa, again breaking the Foxes transfer record.

However, the main question is are these signings of a high enough quality to keep the Premier League's giants at bay this year?

Tactics
As champions, the Foxes will go into this season with just as much confidence, so the same tactics are likely to apply. Expect Leicester to avoid the ball more often than not, and look to provide counter-attacks with blistering speed. The signing of Musa will certainly aid in this, with the pace to rival Jamie Vardy, as well as providing the ideal foil for Riyad Mahrez.

Predictions
Can the Foxes shock the world again? In my opinion, no. They will certainly command greater respect than at the start of last year, but I would expect to see Leicester fall back into the upper mid-table, with a challenge for Europa League football probably the best they can expect. With an increasingly congested fixture list thanks to the Champions League, I just don't think the squad is deep enough to compete with the top teams, and will see them consolidate their status this year.

Final position: 7th

PL 16/17 Predictions Series: Chelsea

My new series looks at the participants of the latest Premier League season. For previous posts, see below:

Arsenal, Bournemouth, Burnley, Crystal Palace

Last season
An absolute disaster. The 2014/15 champions suffered one of the worst title defences of all time, struggling around the relegation zone for the first six months of the season. Having released Jose Mourinho for the second time, the team steadied under the stewardship of Guus Hiddink, eventually finishing tenth. With no other success in cup competitions, including a disappointing Champions League campaign.

Backroom setup

After 12 months of turbulence, with firstly Jose Mourinho and then Guus Hiddink as managers. With the latter always a short-term replacement, the club knew that the summer was going to be crucial. With many of their rivals also making managerial appointments, Chelsea needed someone high profile. Antonio Conte fit the bill perfectly, but it will be interesting to see whether the players deal with his tough-talking technique.

Pre-season
Before entering into the International Champions Cup, set to really provide a stern challenge, the Blues took a tour of Austria to warm up. However, no-one told Rapid Wien to go easy, with Chelsea suffering a 2-0 defeat in their first game. Though this was a youthful side, it was hardly the ideal start for Conte. Nevertheless, successive strong victories without conceding would follow, beating Wolfsberger 3-0 and unknown quantity Atus Ferlach 8-0, with Pedro, Remy, Mikel and new signing Michy Batshuayi all on target.

The International Champions Cup saw the Blues pitted against Liverpool, Real Madrid and AC Milan. Though Chelsea scored early to get the best of their Premier League rivals in a feisty 1-0 win, they struggled to get to grips with a weakened Madrid side, going 3-0 down early thanks to goals from Marcelo and Mariano. Though Hazard pulled two back in the late stages, they couldn't fight back. There was better news from their final two games, with successive wins over AC Milan (3-1) and Werder Bremen (4-2) putting the Blues in a strong position for the start of the season.

Squad and signings

As with behind the scenes, there have been changes to the Chelsea squad, though not perhaps as many as some were expecting. There have been big money moves for both Batshuayi and N'Golo Kante, who performed so admirably for Leicester in their title win last season, both valued at around £30m, with the only exits a number of loans. However, with the aberration of last year for the Blues, I would expect to see more comings and goings from Stamford Bridge in the remainder of the window.

Tactics
Conte has been synonymous with strong physical players during his time as Italian coach, and has seemed to favour a 3-5-2 formation. Whether he will translate that to Chelsea is unclear, though his intent to keep Juan Cuadrado, who had seemed on his way out just a few months ago, perhaps highlights that he could be keeping this tactic in his back pocket if it is required. Much more will be expected of both Fabregas and Hazard as a creative force this year if Chelsea are to be successful.

Predictions

Simply, there is no way that Chelsea can be as bad this year as they were last. While form is temporary, class is permanent, and without the distraction of the Champions League this season, I would fully expect to see them challenging towards the top few places. I still feel that they are lagging slightly behind both Manchester clubs in terms of quality, but I think they will cement their place as best of the rest this season, and may put together a more cohesive push next term.

Final position: 3rd