Leicester: Title contender, or just pretending?

That he arrived at Leicester just a few months after being sacked by Greece in the wake of a humiliating Euro 2016 qualifying defeat at home to the Faroe Islands made his return to the Premier League even more inexplicable, but who is laughing at Leicester now?

Who can forget the enchanting tale of Ipswich Town in 2000-01, George Burley’s Tractor Boys roaring to fifth place the season after entering the Premier League via the Championship’s playoffs. Little changed between 2009 and now in terms of who represented the Premier League in the Champions League but everything else has. Amartey can also play right-back or as a defensive midfielder and his versatility could well lead to more minutes than most expect.

Chelsea fans in the Transfer Tavern are desperate for new recruits this month and they’re pleased to see their loaded owner has adopted a similar stance, as they discuss potential signings over a game of pontoon. Jamie Vardy is now one of the hottest properties in English football with reported interest in him from the big clubs not only in the United Kingdom but also the big club’s in Spain. The standard of football maybe entertaining and unpredictable but it is lacking real quality.

If you’re looking at this sensibly, there’s absolutely no way Leicester City can maintain this sort of form and be threatening Arsenal and Manchester City as the season enters the home straight at the end of April. Before that they played in January 2015 and Stoke City won the game 0 – 1.

For one thing Arsenal have the huge double boost of getting the best number 10 in the world this season back in the shape of Mesut Ozil and he is going to be joined by Alexis Sanchez again for the first time since November. Pellegrini opted for a narrow 4-4-2 on Saturday with playmakers Silva and Kevin De Bruyne asked to occupy wide positions.

Take a look at Claudio Ranieri’s managerial honours list and it is perhaps understandable that his appointment as Leicester City manager last July prompted Gary Lineker, one of the club’s most celebrated former players, to react with such obvious dismay. Then the whistle blew to start the match.

Leicester, joint-top with Arsenal at present, are 16 games away from what would be an incredible achievement if they can maintain their performance levels.

He prefers to play down talk of Europe but admits he’s loving every minute of playing the gatecrasher.

But Costa went off with a shin injury and immediately was sent for a scan.

This is the price English football pays when it demands so many games from its stars and it should come as no surprise that the standards seem so low following such a busy period.

“The big teams haven’t switched on turbo yet to go – and we hope they don’t switch on turbo”, he added on Tuesday.