Leicester must get points from these important remaining games

Leicester’s secret advantage

With all the talk focusing on points, one of Leicester’s assets has gone unnoticed by many: the amount they score. In a season so tight, the final placement of teams could go down to goal difference.

Currently, the Foxes have scored the most goals of any of the bottom nine this season with 38. The problem hasn’t been with how many goals they’ve scored, instead with how many they’ve conceded. Their goal-tally currently puts them with the joint-highest goal difference of the nine teams – level with Leeds on -9.

It is crucial, then, that against a side such as Manchester City or Liverpool, if they were to lose the game, they make sure the defeat is only by one or two goals. The Foxes cannot afford to be on the end of a 9-0 thrashing that we saw Liverpool dish out against Bournemouth, or allow Erling Haaland to run riot against them.

Brendan Rodgers knows this, hence why he was so vocal about the defensive performance of Harry Souttar after the draw with Brentford. After the game, Rodgers acclaimed the Australian international when speaking to the media:

"“I was really pleased with the spirit and the fight and the resilience of the team. We were unfortunate to go behind, it was two deflections on the goal. We had to defend a lot of set-pieces today and I thought the players did that extremely well. We were really aggressive and really organised. Harry Souttar in particular was outstanding. Places like here where they load the boxes with set-pieces, your centre-halves need to be able to defend. Him and Daniel [Amartey] were very good but Harry in particular got his head onto everything. As a team we defended well. I don’t think there were too many chances for either team.” Via LeicestershireLive"

Each game is now critical for Leicester, the cliche of each game being a cup final has never rung truer. If the Foxes survive, it’ll be down to squeezing out victories and keeping their defence tight. Time will tell if Rodgers’ men have enough to get through one of the greatest challenges in their recent history. The margin for error has never been so slim.