Leicester City's Start To The Season In Numbers

First Team
13 Oct 2019
3 Minutes
The numbers behind Leicester City's start to the 2019/20 season are as encouraging as the Foxes' early fourth-place standing in the Premier League table.

Under Brendan Rodgers' guidance, City have so far defeated Sheffield United, AFC Bournemouth, Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United, while also drawing with Wolves and Chelsea.

As a result, Leicester headed into this week's international break occupying a place in the Premier League's top-four positions, a sign of their ambitions to better successive recent ninth-place finishes.

With the Club's senior international representatives due back at Belvoir Drive next week, ahead of Saturday's visit of Burnley, LCFC.com takes a closer number at the stats behind City's early success. 

Top tacklers

Rank Club Tackles
1. Leicester City 177
2. West Ham United 165
3. Southampton 161
4. Chelsea 160
5. Brighton & Hove Albion 156


No side in the Premier League has successfully executed more tackles over the opening eight matches of the 2019/20 campaign than Leicester City.

The Foxes are comfortably ahead of second-place West Ham United (165) with a total of 177, while Wilfred Ndidi and Ricardo Pereira (35) also top the individual charts. 

Southampton's Oriol Romeu (33), Manchester United defender Aaron Wan-Bissaka (31) and West Ham United's Declan Rice (30) complete the top five.

Staying in touch

The amount of touches a side makes has long been considered to be a barometer of their quality, so City will be enthused to be fifth in the team touches charts.

City have touched the ball 5,864 times, below title-holders Manchester City (6,703), European champions Liverpool (6,143), UEFA Europa League winners Chelsea (6,055) and UEFA Champions League finalists Tottenham Hotspur (5,867). 

Another valuable indicator into City's playing style is told by the fact that two of their representatives in the top-20 individual stakes, meanwhile, are full-backs Ricardo Pereira (784) and Ben Chilwell (607).

Keeping the ball 

City's ability to regain and then maintain possession has been essential this year.

Leicester's dominance in possession is proven by the fact they have occupied the ball an average of 57 per cent of the time across their eight games this season with a passing accuracy of 81 per cent.

In fact, last Saturday's late 2-1 defeat by early leaders Liverpool was the first time (49 per cent) they have registered a possession figure below 50 per cent in 2019/20.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Foxes' most dominant possession performance was in the 5-0 home victory over Newcastle United (69 per cent), while they have averaged 520.75 passes per match.

Keeping the door shut

Rank Club Goals conceded
1. Liverpool 6
2. Leicester City 7
= Sheffield United 7
3. Manchester United 8
= Crystal Palace 8


Defensive solidity has been key to the Foxes' opening matches and Brendan Rodgers' men have conceded just seven goals this season, two of which were penalties.

That means City are the joint second-hardest team to score against in the Premier League, behind Liverpool, who have conceded just one less over the first eight matches of the season.

Chris Wilder's Sheffield United, who Leicester defeated 2-1 at Bramall Lane in August, have also let in only seven goals, while Manchester United and Crystal Palace have conceded eight.

Clinical Vardy

Possibly the most notable statistic involving City players concerns Jamie Vardy, with the 32-year-old averaging just 20.62 touches of the ball per match (165 in total).

However, the Club's all-time top Premier League goalscorer is the joint-sixth most successful marksman in the top flight this season with five strikes to his name.

With Vardy feeding off quality over quantity in terms of deliveries from his team-mates, he is now just 15 goals away from becoming the first Fox to ever reach 100 Premier League goals.

To take a closer look at Leicester City's numbers this season, head over to our statistics page by clicking HERE.