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Big guns look to restore order, stop fairy tale
LONDON: Three months and six days after their glittering coronation as Premier League champions, Claudio Ranieri’s Leicester City launch the new season with a trip
LONDON: Three months and six days after their glittering coronation as Premier League champions, Claudio Ranieri’s Leicester City launch the new season with a trip to promoted Hull City on Saturday.
The novelty of their 5,000-1 triumph is still to wear off, but Leicester are already looking to the future.
Midfield lynchpin N’Golo Kante and transfer mastermind Steve Walsh have both left, but the club has signed several new recruits and Ranieri is determined to ensure they do not fall off the map.
“We’re building and slowly getting better. It’s important to forget last season and build our squad,” said the Italian, who has signed a new four-year contract.
“I am very curious. All the world is curious (about) what will happen with Leicester. I am very curious to see where we finish. Last season we made something unbelievable. But now the big teams will come back, I am sure.”
Ranieri could hand league debuts to several players on Saturday. Nampalys Mendy, Kante’s replacement, and £16.6 record signing Ahmed Musa are among those in contention.
Ranieri’s men had a mixed pre-season, losing heavily to Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona, but Manchester United needed a late Zlatan Ibrahimovic goal to beat them in last Sunday’s Community Shield.
Leicester’s odds of retaining the title are 33-1 and with United, Man City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham and Liverpool all strengthening, they are tipped to fall out of the Champions League places.
Pep Guardiola has sanctioned around £150 million in transfer spending, but new recruit John Stones and Nolito are likely to be the only new recruits at his disposal this weekend against Sunderland.
There is an expectation that the season will be defined by the resumption of the rivalry between Guardiola and his former Real Madrid nemesis Jose Mourinho, who takes Manchester United to Bournemouth on Sunday.
Ibrahimovic, Eric Bailly and Henrikh Mkhitaryan could get their first taste of English league football at the Vitality Stadium.
The first heavyweight clash of the season arrives on Sunday, when Juergen Klopp’s Liverpool, who crushed Barcelona 4-0 in a recent friendly, visit Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal.
With Klopp, Guardiola, Mourinho, Ranieri, Pochettino and Chelsea’s Antonio Conte all jostling for position on the start line, Wenger has dubbed this season “the world championship of managers”.
