Leicester City’s two most important Premier League players

Harry Maguire and James Maddison are performing well for Leicester City this season. Therefore it is no surprise to see their names on the latest Sky Sports Power Rankings. This is why they are so important:

Leicester City’s Harry Maguire and James Maddison are both having influential seasons so far. They are representing England this week; Maguire is with the senior squad. Whilst Maddison is part of the U21 Young Lions setup.

When the duo return from international duty, they hope for maximum points in the Premier League: Bournemouth, Huddersfield and Newcastle United are the upcoming fixtures.

Leicester City have two wins and two draws from their first four league matches. Which is encouraging for the current campaign. Mainly because the Foxes have played Manchester United and Liverpool.

In those tough games, the East Midlands side were unlucky not to gain any points and pressed both big-six clubs until the final whistle. In addition, manager Claude Puel is overseeing an overhaul of staff, players and style. Vital.

Consistently stand out performances came from Maguire and Maddison throughout this early beginning. Hence their inclusion in the most recent list of top performers from Sky Sports. Leicester City’s duo find themselves 34th and 35th on the listing.

It is the outlet’s first succession produced this season – naming the 50 rated top Premier League players. Sky does this by taking into account many aspects:

"“The Power Rankings methodology reflects a player’s performance over the past four Premier League matchdays by awarding points to players for 34 different stats, with a greater weight placed on recent games.The Sky Sports Power Rankings will be updated every week during the season, so be sure to keep an eye on the big movers…”"

Incidentally, at another valued football rating company, WhoScored, Wilfred Ndidi is the highest placed Fox. His position of 32nd shows the defensive-minded-midfielder’s merit to the side.

A crucial pair for Leicester City’s style switch

Claude Puel is changing the way Leicester play – gradually but surely. During this process Maguire and Maddison are vital elements. Here is why: the Foxes are now a possession based team, playing with the ball at a high line due to Maddison’s introduction.

Meanwhile, Maguire is also vital to the alterations as he is comfortable in possession and a ball playing centre-back with vision and ranging pass technique. This enables teammates, ideally Maddison, to receive a pass in to feet in quite advanced positions.

And in order to achieve this, Puel absolutely needed this quality in defence and midfield. With Jamie Vardy’s imminent return – this combination becomes all the more deadly. So expect Vardy and possibly Ben Chilwell to join the Power Rankings soon!