Championship Manager of the Month, Championship Player of the Month, 10 points clear at the top of the league, and a local derby against a team who have lost just once in their last 11 league games.
Add into that the supporter social media goading that comes with local rivalries and normally it might all point towards it being set-up for us to spectacularly fall apart. But I don’t feel like that anymore. This Leicester City team has taken away the nerves and feeling of inevitable slip-ups.
(Ok, but we did lose at Middlesbrough the day after Enzo picked up his last Manager of the Month award. Let’s put that to one side.)
Leicester go into Saturday’s clash against Coventry undefeated in over 2 months. Undefeated in 10 league games and 11 games in total. In those 10 league games we’ve won 8 and drawn 2. With both of the draws only coming down to last minute equalisers from the opposition.
Stats aside, the other exciting thing on the pitch is the arrival of Tom Cannon. Is he the striker we’ve been longing for? Picking up an injury shortly after signing it seemed a long wait for him to come into the side, but it’s certainly been worth it! Scoring 2 goals on his full debut at home on New Year’s Day, followed by a fantastic goal against Millwall in the FA Cup, as well as being denied an absurdly obvious penalty shout, he’s quickly becoming a fan favourite.
Hanging off defenders and making the kind of runs we were used to seeing from Jamie Vardy in his prime, it makes the future look bright. Especially when our issues earlier in the season so often came down to a lack of anything exciting or clinical up front.
Add into that the return of Callum Doyle from injury, an in form Stephy Mavididi, and the prospect of some quality January signings and why wouldn’t we be excited as Leicester fans?
But of course we can’t look ahead to this weekend without considering Coventry too. There’s no doubt that they’re on a great run of form at the moment. Haji Wright, who has scored 8 and 5 assists so far this season, is a doubt for the game on Saturday, which is good news for Foxes fans. He limped off on New Year’s Day and Mark Robins has been uncommitted on whether he’ll be fit for Saturday. Elsewhere in the squad Matt Godden bagged his 50th career goal for Coventry City last week and continues to pose a danger, whilst their Japanese winger Sakamoto has been hugely impressive in giving them that attacking width across midfield. In form Sakamoto was also nominated for December Player of the Month but lost out to Stephy Mavididi.
Of Coventry’s 7 defeats in the league this season, one 1 has come at home. But that said, Leicester have only lost once away from home all season too.
With the early kick off it gives Leicester the opportunity to open up an outrageous 16 point gap over 3rd place. Maresca’s boys don’t show any signs of slowing down, and whilst traditionally everything might point to the M69 derby being the perfect place for them to slip up, it’s nice to not feel like it’s inevitable.
Score prediction: 1-2
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