Leicester City are “not a typical newly-promoted team”, Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna has said, insisting his side are under the least pressure in the relegation battle.
McKenna pointed to City’s two recent seasons in Europe, in 2020-21 and 2021-22 to show they’re not quite the underdogs that clubs coming up from the Championship usually are. The Ipswich boss placed Southampton in the same bracket, the Saints having had a long spell in the Premier League prior to their one season in the second tier.
The Tractor Boys, meanwhile, are back in the top flight after more than two decades away. Although, they did have a net spend of more than £100m in the summer.
As things stand, it appears the bottom seven are the weakest in the division and the relegated trio will come from that group. Right now, City are four points clear of the drop zone.
“People who are wiser than me and have been around the league for longer said that they felt that this would be a really, really strong Premier League this season,” McKenna, whose team are 18th, told the East Anglian Daily Times. “I think it's proved to be that.
“I think there's probably the least pressure on us. The two teams who came up with us, I'd say, are not typical newly-promoted teams. Leicester were in Europe a couple of seasons ago and Southampton are coming off the back of a decade in the Premier League. And the teams who avoided relegation or finished mid-table last season, in general, invested.
“I see all the teams throughout the division capable of getting points off other teams. We're in that mix as well. We've shown that we can take points off the top teams and we can compete with pretty much everyone.”
Six of the bottom seven faced each other in midweek. City beat West Ham in Ruud van Nistelrooy’s debut, while Crystal Palace edged out Ipswich and Everton thrashed Wolves.
It means, in a mini-league of the bottom seven, City are now the only unbeaten side. From their five games against their relegation-battling rivals, they have two wins, against Southampton and West Ham, and three draws, against Palace, Everton and Ipswich.
Staying unbeaten in those games, and therefore denying their rivals points, would be a commendable achievement and would be a big step towards earning survival. Their next such head-to-head is at home to Wolves in their final match before Christmas.
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