Why Leicester City have real hope of unlikely triumph

When Leicester City drew 2-2 with Crystal Palace in October, their seventh Premier League game of the season, Brendan Rodgers was already looking to the run-in.

With Wesley Fofana injured and with City performing poorly, the manager was already looking to the end of the campaign, hoping the narrative of the club’s season would be flipped. After two years where City’s form dropped during the final few months to deny them Champions League football, Rodgers was banking on a run-in where they were playing at their best.

Well, here they are. With a home victory over Crystal Palace on Sunday, their fourth victory in six in the Premier League, they really can look up and hope this time they somehow claw their way into the European places, rather than nervously look over their shoulder and somehow give up their top-four berth from a position of strength.

The 2-1 win, combined with defeat for West Ham, means City are 11 points shy of sixth with three games in hand. That’s close enough to look up and hope. Of course, City need to win their games in hand, but their fixtures are good. Of their final nine, they have seven against sides in the bottom half.

And they are playing well too. They are up to sixth in the eight-game form table. Even making seven changes against the Eagles, they were the better side for large parts of the game. They pressed harder, passed more confidently, posed a greater threat, and generally looked like they had a better understanding of their tactics. And this was against a team that had just beaten Arsenal 3-0.

The Europa Conference League is the focus, clearly. There is an opportunity for silverware there. But hope is growing in the Premier League.

There were City fans looking over their shoulder at the