Leicester: The most important fixtures of the 2021/22 season

Of course, every team has to play the other 19 teams twice — so arguing over fixtures is seemingly redundant, but understanding when the tougher games of the season are — and also how the season draws to a close (something the Foxes have struggled to deal with over the last two campaigns) is incredibly important.

As for difficult runs, Leicester City face three tough clusters throughout the 38-game season. The first of which is in late October (the 30th) and stretches three matches to the 20th November — with a planned international break in the middle. The Foxes play; Arsenal (H), Leeds United (A), and Chelsea (H), in what I’ve calculated to be 11 points of difficulty, or; “3”, “3”, “5” on the ratings individually. The chances of playing two games with a difficulty rating of “3” back-to-back is just under 7% — when looking specifically at two game integers, so over an entire season they’ll occur fairly often.

Many Leicester City fans have already noticed the tantalising Christmas period, which has once again treated the Foxes to playing the previous two Champions; Liverpool and Manchester City, back-to-back on the Boxing Day and following fixture. For what it’s worth, the chances of playing two matches with a difficulty rating of “5” is 4.4% — again, when looking purely at two fixtures. Of course, you have 37 different two game pairings throughout a season, so it’s expected that every team will play back-to-back games versus top four sides. It might feel like it’s only Leicester City being given fixtures like this, but thankfully, that’s not the case.

Prior to the games against Manchester City (A) and Liverpool (H), the Foxes also face some difficult fixtures. They play two “3” difficulty matches starting with Tottenham Hotspur (H) on the 14th of December, and then Everton (A) before playing the Citizens on Boxing Day — giving this run of four games a difficulty rating of 16. I think, but mainly hope, that Brendan Rodgers’ side will relish the opportunity of facing such tough opposition around the festive period as it allows for an easier set of fixtures towards the latter stages of the competition.