Just over three years ago, Leicester City were visitors at the Etihad when the worst-kept secret in European football was confirmed – Pep Guardiola had agreed to take over as Manchester City manager and would replace Manuel Pellegrini in the summer. By way of celebration City managed to get themselves trounced by a side on their way to winning the league. Any hopes Pellegrini and his players had of adding another title to the ones City won in 2012 and 2014 were ended by the Foxes’ rampant away form, just as Tottenham’s had been a few weeks earlier.
Leicester were frequently unstoppable that season, and by the time they stormed the Etihad they had already accrued 28 points away from home. They would end up with 39, only three points fewer than their home points tally, so one of the first things Guardiola would have noted on arrival was that it was possible to win the title with a dozen drawn games and a total of 81 points. He possibly wondered what all the talk of fairytales was about.
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