Leicester City may be the greatest team in the Championship, but they should not take promotion for granted, according to EFL analyst David Prutton.
Leicester has bounced back strongly after being relegated from the Premier League last season. The Foxes have made good progress in their pursuit to return to the top division since appointing Enzo Maresca as manager.
Leeds, who were relegated along with City and Southampton last season, will be looking to cut that gap when they take on the Foxes at the King Power Stadium in front of the live Sky Sports cameras on Friday night (8pm kick-off). Daniel Farke’s side go into the game on the back of an impressive 4-1 win at Huddersfield Town last time out.
Meanwhile, Leicester triumphed 2-1 at Queens Park Rangers on Saturday, due to a late wonder strike from Harry Winks. Prutton has been impressed by what he has seen, as the former Leeds, Nottingham Forest, and Sheffield Wednesday midfielder spoke on Sky Sports’ The Championship Predictions podcast.
Football is a beautiful game to play on paper when you have a really good team, but it is extremely difficult in practice,” he said. “Of course, there are comparisons to what he has experienced with Manchester City under Pep Guardiola, but we’re talking about that at a lower level.”
They didn’t leave the Premier League quietly, did they? They couldn’t compete with the other teams down there, so they slid out.
They’ve done exactly that with the manner they’ve gone about it; they can split teams at will, and they have squad depth to the point where if Jamie Vardy doesn’t start, Kelechi Iheanacho does. They have Kieran Dewsbury-Hall, who I’ve enjoyed watching so far this season, and Conor Coady, who has returned from injury and slid into the back four and looked like he’s been there all season because he’s a very, very excellent player.
“With Enzo Maresca and what he knows, in his first job up front in English football, being the boss, only Liam Rosenior knows how to beat them so far, whether that’s a blueprint or a benchmark as the season progresses we shall soon see.
I think statistically, what you’ve thrown at me there with the comparison to some very, very, very good teams, the numbers do favor them at the moment for being one of the best, if not the best, we’ve seen in the Championship.” But they haven’t been promoted yet.”
Prutton believes Leicester and Leeds will draw 2-2 at the King Power Stadium. “A real heavyweight clash to kick things off on Friday night,” he remarked. Leicester City appear to be unstoppable. They’re setting records everywhere, but this is by far their most difficult test of the season.
