Foxes of Leicester
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Leicester City Vs Wolverhampton Wanderers: Foxes tasked with wolf hunting in season opener

By Harneet Singh Sethi

LEICESTER, ENGLAND - AUGUST 02: Jamie Vardy of Leicester celebrates his goal to make it 2-0 with Ayoze Perez during the Pre-Season Friendly match between Leicester City and Atalanta at The King Power Stadium on August 02, 2019 in Leicester, England. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)
LEICESTER, ENGLAND - AUGUST 02: Jamie Vardy of Leicester celebrates his goal to make it 2-0 with Ayoze Perez during the Pre-Season Friendly match between Leicester City and Atalanta at The King Power Stadium on August 02, 2019 in Leicester, England. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images) /
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New season. New regime. No-nonsense manager. No-nonsense football. Nonpareil talent. Nonpareil optimism. Brendan Rodgers’ Leicester City mean business.

Not even in 2016 – following the Premier League title win –  did such positivity permeate the King Power Stadium as it does now.

The fans are upbeat, the players are confident and the manager, well, the manager is the reason behind all of that.

Ever since Rodgers’ appointment, Leicester have been a different outfit altogether. They have an identity, a stronger mentality and are an attractive destination for Europe’s elite – Youri Tielemans and Dennis Praet’s acquisitions being a testament to that.

With everything now in place, it’s time for the Foxes to hunt a few wolves as they face Wolverhampton Wanderers in their season opener on Sunday.

Fresh (not really) from a 4-0 win – and a 6,370-mile round journey to Yerevan – over Pyunik in the UEFA Europa League third-round qualifier, Nuno Espirito Santo’s side would be playing their third game since last Friday.

It’s easy to tell who benefits the most from that.

Nonetheless, Wolves are never an easy team to beat. You know they will be up for it, no matter when do they play and who do they play. That is how and why they’ve made it to a European competition right after promotion.

Leicester probably know that already, having been hammered by them the last time these two met. But that happened when a certain Frenchman was in charge. An Irishman is the chief these days. Luck of the Irish etc.

One to watch

It would be unfair to the others were we to pick one player, such is the omnium gatherum of talent in this team.

We may find someone for the “one to watch” section next week, but for now, you have to keep an eye on every single Leicester player who comes onto the pitch tomorrow.

Quotes

"“Everyone talks about getting into the top six. We want to knock as heavily as we can on that door and push,” says Brendan Rodgers.“Everything shows you that it’s getting more difficult – the last couple of years, that points gap has increased between sixth and the other teams.“But in my time here at Leicester, we said we wanted to make European football, whether it’s this year, next year or the year after. We shall see, but we want to go and push as hard as we can, do the best that we can.”"

Next. Dennis Praet profiled: How new Leicester City signing fits into the system. dark

Predicted XI

Schmeichel; Chilwell, Soyuncu, Evans, Pereira; Perez, Maddison, Ndidi, Tielemans, Albrighton; Vardy.