The beauty of the English Premier League has always been the fact that any team can beat any team on their given day. That doesn't mean that all 20 are contending for the title, and truthfully the race for the championship remains among the top four or five teams. It is because in a long over nine-month campaign comprising 38 rounds, smaller teams fail to manage the toll on their resources - injuries to key players and the rigours of performing day in and day out. So, the upset victories which remain a frequent feature give smaller teams a hand in the crucial factors deciding the eventual winners.
But something different is happening this season, as a relatively unknown club in the elite circuit is living the Premier League dream on its own terms. In a season which has so far seen champions Chelsea struggling like never before, Leicester City are riding high. And the star performer of the league so far is their prolific striker Jamie Vardy, who created an amazing EPL record of scoring in 11 consecutive matches last Saturday.
Both the club and its striker has taken the league by storm this season and surprised their fans and rivals alike. While Chelsea are at a lowly 14th, Leicester are equal on points (29) with league leaders Manchester City after 14 rounds of matches, whereas Vardy has taken a four-goal lead in the top scorers' list with 14 goals.
Jose Mourinho's champion side has managed only four victories so far, whereas Claudio Ranieri's side recorded eight after only managing 11 wins in the entire last season. Leicester made a return to top-flight football last season, after previously featuring in the EPL in 2003-04. It is a dream turnaround for the club which remained at the bottom of the standings 19 times out of 38 total rounds in their comeback season, in which they eventually finished at 14th after a brilliant late charge picking up 22 points in the final two months (April and May) to avoid relegation.
This year, Leicester led the standings in the first three rounds and since then have been on the top three in ten of the 14 rounds played, going outside the top five only once when they suffered their only defeat of the campaign so far against Arsenal.
The amazing run of Leicester has coincided with the form of their lead striker Vardy, who has impressed with his scoring penchant this season, scoring 14 in as many games so far. With another brilliant goal against Manchester United last Saturday, he bettered the record of scoring in the most consecutive Premier League matches held by former United goal-machine Ruud van Nilsteroy.
By scoring in 11 consecutive matches, Yardy has broken a 12-year record (Nilsteroy scored in ten successive matches in 2003). He started this amazing run with a goal against Bournemouth on August 29, followed by against Aston Villa, Stoke City, Arsenal, Norwich City, Southampton, Crystal Palace, West Brom, Watford, Newcastle United, and Manchester United last weekend.
A non-league striker his entire career before joining Leicester in May 2012, Vardy made his top-flight debut against Arsenal as a sub on August 31 at the beginning of the 2014-15 season. And a stellar run at the top level also came handy for him as, aged 28, he was drafted into English national squad on May 21, 2015 for the 2016 Euro qualifiers, and earned his first international cap against Republic of Ireland in Dublin on June 7. So far, Vardy has represented the national side four times with more caps in the horizon.
The club and the striker are adding more shine to the already popular league this season.
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