Much has been made of Leicester City’s “fairytale” ascent to the Premier League title, but many have overlooked how dominant the Foxes have been.
Claudio Ranieri’s side ended the season ten points clear of nearest rivals Arsenal, the second-best margin of victory in the last ten campaigns.
Despite this, Jamie Vardy and company are priced at 30/1 to top the table come the end of 2016/17.
In the entire history of the Premier League, only six sides have won the league by ten or more points.
Fans of the newly-crowned champions should take encouragement from this due to how well dominant winners fare in defence of their crown.
Half of the clubs to achieve this feat have gone on to finish first in the following season, with only one ever finishing lower than third.
Manchester United were the outfit to do this, ending up seventh after establishing an 11 point lead over their nearest competitors in 2012/13.
However, there were mitigating circumstances for this flop, with Sir Alex Ferguson retiring after earning his 13th English title.
Replacing the legendary manager proved too much of a difficult task for the Fergie-approved David Moyes and the Red Devils eventually slumped into seventh.
A second successive season of Champions League football then looks the bare minimum for Leicester as they are unlikely to have the same summer of upheaval that floored United.
Furthermore, Man Utd and Chelsea are the only first-time winners of the Premier League to defend the crown and the Foxes’ should be boosted by this.
Both of these title-retaining campaigns came after the two powerhouses had picked up their maiden title by a margin of at least ten points.
Interestingly, they both lifted their next trophy by opening up an eight-point lead, but also required a minimum of 90 points in order to be champions, nine more than the Foxes collected this campaign.
