Five years after surprising the world by winning the Premier League, Leicester is once again on top. After the first half of the season, Brendan Rodgers' team is only one point behind where it sat 5 years ago and has very similar performance data. This time Schmeichel and Vardy are joined by new players such as Maddison and Tielemans.
It felt like a dream. A modest team that rose up above the powerful to win the Premier League. Leicester performed that feat, and it was only five years ago. Far from becoming a tale for the grandchildren, it now seems more like a seed. One that Brendan Rodgers and his people want to bring to fruition and repeat. One only has to compare the equivalent parts of the seasons and see that they are practically identical.
With 39 points, in second position and tied with the leader (then Arsenal), Claudio Ranieri's Leicester had only lost two games. 11 wins and six draws had them in the fight for the title, although at that time nobody thought it was sustainable.
These new foxes only have one point less, 38, after winning one more match but also losing three more (they only have two draws). That right now they are good enough to be leaders up in pole position, although with a game more than Manchester United and two more than Manchester City.
A slight nuance between two versions: while the one from five years ago was a little more decisive (1.95 goals on average), the contemporary season shows a little more defensive reliability after having kept a clean sheet in three more matches (7) and having conceded four goals less (21).
That Leicester not only maintained its numbers, but improved them. They scored 42 points in the second half of the season to win the league with ten points over the Gunners. They averaged 60.53% of wins, less than the current 63.56% managed by Brendan Rodgers's pupils.
There are still survivors of that magical group. Kasper Schmeichel and Jamie Vardy are the great references, but also Fuchs, Wes Morgan, Albrigthon, Amartey and Demarai Gray.
There is not the troublemaker Mahrez, but another great discovery is Maddison. No Kanté or Drinkwater, though they are enjoying Ndidi and Tielemans. And if the German Huth was in charge of the defence, now the Turkish Söyüncü is.