Are Leicester repeating history after 3-1 loss to Arsenal?

A week to forget for Leicester City. A flat midweek performance exposed The Foxes weaknesses, but it was Arsenal that delivered the fatal coup de grâce to the pests of the Premier League.

Before this afternoon, Leicester’s league record against the traditional big six was W-W-L-W-D-W-W, Liverpool’s November victory being the only fault in an impressive set of results. Arsenal has struggled recently in domestic matches succeeding mid-week European ties. However, they bucked the trend at The King Power Stadium and recorded a 3-1 victory despite rotating six players from their midweek victory over Benfica.

Harvey Barnes faces a six-week layoff and knee surgery after going down on the 50-minute mark. Joining James Maddison, Wesley Fofana, James Justin, Dennis Praet, Ayoze Perez and Wes Morgan on Leicester’s perpetual injury list. Jonny Evans was also substituted, having looked fragile all month since limping against Wolves.

FoL reviews Leicester’s fortunes this season and considers what has gone wrong in recent weeks, and what it could mean for the club’s future.

Leicester City not part of the ‘Big Six’ – and that is okay!

A common trend on social media and football opinion pieces is endless debate over the Premier League’s Big Six. Both Manchester clubs, Liverpool and Chelsea are easily identified as the giants of the league, while Arsenal and Tottenham fervently cling to slipping shreds of acclaim despite only the former achieving any silverware in the last decade. This season has witnessed Leicester, Everton and West Ham be heralded as members of a new order. However, none of the three are – and that is okay.

Given that Tottenham’s average position since the inception of the Premier League is eighth, and Arsenal are languishing firmly mid-table under pretences of Mikel Arteta’s developing a ‘project’, neither can be considered elite performance-wise. However, The Big Six has never been to do with performance. It is entirely based on the strength of each respective brand.

Professional services giant Deloitte publishes an annual report entitled the ‘Football Money League’, an analysis of the economics and financial performance of leading clubs worldwide. Five of the Big Six make up the top 10, while Arsenal lies at 11, Everton 17, Leicester 22 and West Ham at 26. With an estimated £176 million between The Gunners and The Toffees, the zeitgeist is unlikely to change any time soon.

Being part of the Big Six is the equivalent of joining the Freemasons, it sounds grandiose and decadent but in reality, it is just senile men getting drunk. Such titles are just measurements of the clubs as brands and economic powers. If Tottenham can go 13 years and only have a deprecating chant to their name, then they can keep their vane Big Six plumage.