Leicester City Made A History Of Best Squad In Championship Friday Wonders

Just like that, we’re into the second half of the Championship season, with tables starting to take shape but a lot left to play for.

At the top the battle for supremacy is heating up with Leicester leading Ipswich Town by six points after the two shared a point each in their Boxing Day blockbuster clash at Portman Road.

However they will need to be looking in their rear-view mirrors with Southampton chasing down the front-runners just five points behind the Tractor Boys, with fellow recently-relegated side Leeds not far off either.

But at the bottom end of the table, Sheffield Wednesday and Rotherham run the risk of being cut further adrift of safety with both tied on 16 points and 21st-placed Huddersfield nine points ahead on 25, and seemingly increasing the gap.

So, ahead of a full fixture list on Friday night, Wonders of the Pyramid tests the temperature in the second tier…

Are Leicester and Ipswich bound for the big time?

Leicester have the best squad and one of the biggest budgets in Championship history by some stretch, with many of their stars boasting international caps and top-flight experience. But don’t let that detract from the fine work being done by Italian boss Enzo Maresca.

Pep Guardiola’s former assistant claims he wants to be known as his own man but it is hard to ignore the Catalan’s influence in the Foxes’ slick style of play. One goal against Rotherham just before Christmas came after a 54-pass move as Millers players chased shadows.

Players such as Wout Faes, Wilfred Ndidi and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall have excelled in the second tier, while summer signing Stephy Mavididi, the former Arsenal academy star signed from Montpellier, has dazzled with eight goals and four assists.

The Foxes have strength in depth, with recent injuries to Jamie Vardy and Kelechi Iheanacho being remedied by £23million Zambia international Patson Daka able to deputise. But the club have done a stellar rebuild after James Maddison, Harvey Barnes and Youri Tielemans exited.

Maresca has mainly been sleeping at Leicester’s Seagrave training complex honing his domineering style and the Italian has overseen a fine run of five wins and a draw – a frustrating one at second-placed Ipswich, who equalised in stoppage time – in the six games of December.

The Foxes are six points clear of Ipswich, though, heading into Friday night’s fixtures. The Tractor Boys have gone winless in three – draws against Leicester and rivals Norwich and a 4-0 thrashing at Leeds – but it is credit to Kieran McKenna that they are up there.

This column predicted McKenna’s men to make a push for automatic promotion in a pre-season preview but no one forecast just how the newly-promoted side have taken the Championship by storm, with them five points clear of the play-off spots going into the New Year.

With 33 goals against, only two sides in the top half have conceded more, which further illustrates their mantra of ‘you can score, but we will score more’. Summer signings Harry Clarke and Leif Davis, the flying full-back duo, have made McKenna’s side thrilling to watch.

But most of the XI is the same as the one that scored 101 goals and won 98 points in League One last season. Former Manchester United coach McKenna, from Northern Ireland, is a shoo-in for manager of the campaign at the halfway stage.

Those three games without a win have left Ipswich looking over their shoulders, though, with big-spending Southampton and Leeds banging on the door of the automatic promotion places, with Saints especially the big winners of the festive period.

Russell Martin has made the St Mary’s club the pass-masters of the Championship with an average possession of 64.6 per cent, and the former Swansea boss has overseen a run of 16 games unbeaten, including a 5-0 win over his previous employers on Boxing Day.

Like Leicester, Saints lost the core of their team – James Ward-Prowse, Tino Livramento and Romeo Lavia were the headline departures – but others have stepped up such as 12-goal Adam Armstrong, midfielder Will Smallbone and England Under 21 captain Taylor Harwood-Bellis.

Serial promotion winner Daniel Farke is doing an admirable job at Leeds after a tricky start. A 4-0 thrashing of Ipswich was overshadowed by a Boxing Day defeat to Preston but the former Norwich man is getting the best from a squad that underachieved last season.

Weirdly, it feels like the recruitment policy that was probably the reason for their relegation – signing highly-rated youngsters – is now the reason for their success in the second tier, with many of those stars flourishing, with Georginio Rutter the pick of the bunch.

Also keep an eye out for ever-improving youngsters Crysencio Summerville and midfielder-cum-full-back Archie Gray. ‘No Piroe no party’ was the motto at Swansea about Dutch striker Joel, who has brought the good times to Leeds after his move, with nine goals.