Title race ‘set to be tightest in years’ PLUS
City v Everton preview
LEICESTER City will look to move ahead of the pack tonight in what could be the tightest title race in years.
A City win over Everton at the King Power Stadium, followed by a draw between Liverpool and Tottenham, will leave Brendan Rodgers’ side leading the way after 13 games. However, a poor result could lead to a sharp drop down the table, with just seven points separating first to 10th ahead of the midweek round of fixtures, the smallest-ever gap after 12 games in Premier League history. Rodgers believes that trend will continue, although he thinks the teams competing in Europe will be fresher now they have a break from continental competition, and so the table might get stretched.
City, who also have a break from Europa League action, will hope to keep pace, although Rodgers is not yet including his team in the race, even if he admits the club have proven once before that anything can happen.
But Rodgers also doesn’t expect a team to run away with the league like Liverpool did last season. “I think it will be tight, with the nature of the league this season because of the compactness of the games and the quality of the teams,” he said at his pre-match press conference yesterday. “I think it will be tighter than what it’s been between the pack. But there’s still a long way to go. “All of the teams in Europe have now got a period without European games and they might be a little bit fresher. “It’s been an interesting season so far and it’s nice to be up and around it. “I don’t think people will make that mistake about (underestimating) anyone.
“What Leicester showed that season was that everything is possible. It’s one of the greatest sporting stories.
“The odds have dramatically been cut down on every team, so it’s not quite the same.
“It’s been great to see Southampton, West Ham and ourselves up there.
“It’s the job of every team to challenge and be up there as long as you can.”
Rodgers has said that he hopes to be around sixth or seventh come the new year, with tricky ties on the way for City. After Everton, City travel to Spurs, then host Manchester United, before heading back to London to take on Crystal Palace.
But the boss is confident his side can cope.
“It’s not a case of ticking them off, we’re excited by them,” he said.
“We want to go into each game with a real positive outlook that we can get a result.
“I trust my players. We’ll pick an aggressive team to win the game and that’s what we’ll look at for Everton.
“We’ll give everything and then move on to the weekend.
“We’ve been used to playing a lot of games. It’s something that we’ve managed, playing in Europe, and so this feels no different.
“The games over the Christmas period, playing Saturday (December 26) and Monday (December 28) will test everyone.”