How serious is the Leicester City Premier League challenge?

Brendan Rodgers is no stranger to challenging at the business end of the Premier League, having almost won it with Liverpool and winning a title in Scotland with Celtic

Leicester City's Jamie Vardy celebrates his late winning goal with teammates during the Premier League match at Bramall Lane, Sheffield.

They’ve done it before. Can they do it again?

It would be foolish to dismiss such a talented group of players led by an astute manager, especially during such a topsy-turvy season. Leicester were a constant presence in the top four - and often in the top two - last season before they stumbled following the resumption of football post-lockdown, missing out on the Champions League with a home defeat to Man Utd on the final day of the campaign.

The Foxes' points tally this season stands in comparison to their title win of 2015-16. That season, Claudio Ranieri's team were second behind Arsenal with 39 points after 19 matches, while they currently have 38 at the same stage.

Where is their achilles heel?

Leicester have regularly shown they belong in the upper echelons of the table these days, with wins against Manchester City, Arsenal, Tottenham and Chelsea, and a draw against Manchester United testament to that. Of course they do struggle against the lesser teams.

They’ve lost his season to Fulham, Aston Villa and West Ham, as well as dropping further points against Crystal Palace. It is a recurring theme from last season - when Burnley, Norwich and Bournemouth all beat the Foxes.

Is the squad strong enough?

Ricardo Pereira, Daniel Amartey, Wilfred Ndidi, Ayoze Perez and Caglar Soyuncu have all missed large chunks of this season but Leicester have still found a way to win matches consistently. They still rely heavily on Vardy, but there are an abundance of match-winners elsewhere - especially in the gifted James Maddison and Youri Tielemans.

Leicester City's James Maddison celebrates scoring his side's first goal of the game against Newcastle with team-mate Jamie Vardy

The fluid 3-4-2-1 formation allows Rodgers to pack the team with any number of combinations in the number 10 position behind Vardy, with Maddison, Tielemans, Perez, Harvey Barnes and Cengiz Under all options.

Does the manager have the right experience?

Rodgers is no stranger to challenging at the business end of the Premier League, having almost won it with Liverpool in 2013-14, before pushing Leicester towards the top four last season.

The 47-year-old also won the title in Scotland with Celtic in each of his two full seasons in Glasgow.