Search icon

Sport

24th Sep 2016

People are already backing ‘frauds’ Leicester to be relegated this season

The dreaded F word...

Kevin Beirne

You don’t need us to tell you the story of Leicester City.

They went from relegation favourites to Premier League champions last season and made a joke of the bookies along the way.

The Foxes were 5000/1 outsiders to claim the league title last year, and in the end bookmakers paid out an estimated £25m to those who had backed them.

Leicester City v Everton - Premier League

But even with their tremendous run to the top of the table, people still weren’t convinced it would last. Coming into this season, bookies still thought it was more likely that Leicester would be relegated than retain their crown.

Six games into the new season, and Claudio Ranieri’s men aren’t exactly putting those doubts to rest like they did last time around.

The loss of N’Golo Kante has been apparent as the defending champions have lost half of their games and claimed just seven points, conceding 11 goals along the way.

rankante

The build up to their game this weekend focused on the struggles of the opponents, Manchester United, who had only managed to put an end to their three-game losing streak thanks to an EFL Cup win over a mid-table League One side.

But it was United who played like champions as they knocked Leicester for four goals before halftime and ran out 4-1 winners on Saturday afternoon. And the whispers of a potential relegation for Leicester suddenly became a little less muted.

At the start of the season, Riyad Mahrez and co were 28/1 to go down. Now, less than a fifth of the way into the new season, and the champions’ odds have dropped to 20/1 in most markets.

It’s clear to see it’s becoming a more common view…

https://twitter.com/crispinokumu/status/779690253800001540

https://twitter.com/ColTalbot1/status/779654683161948160

https://twitter.com/AlexFortyNine/status/779653322819108864

https://twitter.com/mvcasey91/status/779656638412288001

And it was no surprise to see them throwing around a certain F word…

https://twitter.com/DejiAFC/status/779654659648741376

https://twitter.com/CalebO__/status/779671666620116992

https://twitter.com/arthurtotally/status/779665119290679296

https://twitter.com/spurscam/status/779659844416573444

https://twitter.com/kwekuPsycho/status/779655688586797056

Catch up on the first episode of Football Friday Live…