Claude Puel showing Leicester City's Premier League title triumph wasn’t such a fluke

Claude Puel must have enjoyed Wednesday night. With his new team, the Frenchman turned up at the stadium he was derided at for boring, boring football and put on a display of dynamic, diminutive and exhilarating football as Leicester City claimed a comprehensive 4-1 win over Southampton. Puel did well to keep the smirk from his face.

It was an illustration of how the former Saints boss looks to be the perfect fit for the Foxes. Leicester City have enjoyed a remarkable upturn in form and fortune since Puel’s appointment in late October, with the King Power Stadium side now sitting in eighth place in the Premier League table. A season that not so long ago looked set to be defined by a fight against the drop could now bring European football.

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Of course, Leicester City’s sensational title triumph still casts a shadow over the club. It was an upset that re-shaped English football, redefined what was possible for every Premier League team. It’s what made their fall last season so spectacular. It’s what cost Claudio Ranieri his job, and ultimately Craig Shakespeare his as well.

It’s true that at one end of the spectrum, the Leicester hierarchy have suffered from delusions from grandeur. But at the other end, there is the notion that the Foxes were, at least on paper, no better than any of the teams near the foot of the table when they won the title two seasons. Their triumph was framed as a group of cloggers who somehow, incredibly, got lucky. The ultimate David versus Goliath tale.

There is some truth to this notion. However, Puel is now showing just how much quality there is at the King Power Stadium. With the exception of N’Golo Kante, Leicester’s current team is largely the same team that swept to the Premier League title. The Frenchman is showing how that triumph maybe wasn’t such a fluke after all.

This isn’t meant to belittle Leicester City’s remarkable achievement of the 2015/16 season. It was clearly, whichever way you look at it, the greatest footballing upset in a generation. But if the 2015/16 season was a case of overachievement, then last season was underachievement, which means this season is more like the median.

Leicester City’s current league position reflects their quality as a team, with Puel insisting that they can get even better. “All is not perfect. We need to correct some things, we need to continue to improve and always progress,” he said after the 4-1 win over Southampton. “If we have the ability to maintain the good results with some changes for every game, then it will be good for the future.”

In Riyad Mahrez and Jamie Vardy, Puel has two players good enough to make a difference in any game. In particular, the former Southampton and Nice boss deserves credit for the way he has restored the former as a force, with Mahrez scoring three times in his last four outings.

The Moroccan, who has been shifted into more of a central position, has created more chances in his last three games than in the 14 appearances before that. Ranieri found a way to get the most from his best players and Puel has made a good start on doing the same thing.

Add in the quality of Harry Maguire, possibly the brightest young defender in the English game right now, and Wilfried Ndidi, the Nigerian who has stepped into the Kante void, and it’s possible to argue that Puel has an even stronger squad than Ranieri had when he swept past the Premier League elite to the title.

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The Foxes still have a long way to go if they are to truly challenge for European football this season, and they certainly aren’t about to emulate their title triumph of two seasons ago, but Puel has given a clearer indication of where the watermark should be with this team. We finally have a better idea of just how good this Leicester side is.