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TITLE DECIDER AT THE EMIRATES?

Prediction is a funny word. It has a Latin root-prae-which means “before” and dicere which means “to say”. Now, “before to say” naturally makes little sense; but then if you look at how this season has gone, sense hasn’t been followed much.

Back when Leicester City played Arsenal in late September, they were still looking for their first clean sheet. Arsenal weren’t doing great themselves, having just returned from a terrible and controversial outing at Chelsea. But the thing that has stood true since then is how little both teams have changed in their approach; and why this Sunday may just have another goal shower.

Alexis Sanchez was the main partake in that party. A hat-trick in under 48 minutes brought about the first loss for Leicester City in the season, with the third goal a marvelous long range drive giving Kasper Schmeichel no chance. The other two were more like Sanchez, bullying his way around with a stomping header and a fox-in-the-box tap in. Another similarity with that game here is that the Chilean wasn’t doing great having just returned from helping his country win the Copa America and as of now he’s not been his electric self post recovering from a hamstring injury. He’s been missing from the goals and could well make amends in what looks to be a real title-defining game.

Yes, it still 13 odd games off, but we’re all but pulling out the final set of predictions and analyzing run-ins for all 4 teams now involved directly in the hunt for the Premier league. Who would’ve thought, a quartet of teams playing each other on the same day with results being crazy enough to shift three positions out of four? Tottenham, Arsenal and Manchester City will certainly be interchanging positions at one point or another on Sunday. And while it would’ve been more fun had they played at the same time, we’ll have to just take the appetizer we’re being served to what is going to be a delicious main course that is the final few weeks come April-May.

For a man nicknamed The Tinkerman, Claudio Ranieri has completely failed in living up to that name this season. The following stat shows you just how balanced and straight forward his approach has been: No changes to a winning side, unless absolutely necessary.

Another basic the Leicester boss has made gold is the old 4-4-2 formation. Not once have the Foxes failed to put up two strikers on the pitch this season, and that has worked wonders against teams who seemed to have forgotten how to play against the most popular formation of the last century.

While Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez get the plaudits for the goals, and rightly so, it is the unseen work ethic of players like Shinji Okazaki and Leonardo Ulloa which has made sure they get the space to run into where the goals come from. N’Golo Kante and Danny Drinkwater have been doing similar-if not more important-jobs in midfield. With the defense being led by a reinvigorated Robert Huth and Christian Fuchs, no wonder the two banks of four work perfectly in tandem.

Arsenal has had their own set of unsung heroes doing the dirty work while the likes of Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez make hay up front. And the problem is going to be the lack of those heroes on the pitch this Sunday. Santi Cazorla was critical in the 2-5 reverse over the Foxes in September, getting the assist for Walcott’s equalizer and making critical interceptions which turned into the counter attacks from which the Gunners had 27 shots-12 on target. While Francis Coquelin is very important in keeping Arsenal’s defense in check, his partnership with Aaron Ramsey is yet to be tested. The Welshman was deployed on the wing to accommodate Theo Walcott as a centre forward. This was finally beginning to make sense as his pace and shoot-on-sight policy was bearing fruit. While Ramsey added the defensive surety on the flanks, the Englishman made down the channel runs.

Let’s be clear, the game at King Power Stadium will have no real effect in how this one ends. The stakes are a lot higher than they were on day 7 of the Premier league. This is a straight up test of the title credentials of both teams and neither will want to give the other any space. Space is what players like Alexis and Vardy live on and neither Fuchs nor Koscielny will want to be the guilty party in this case. With both Wenger and Ranieri being more pragmatic than in their previous years, this is bad game to call.

However, I’d still like to put in a little bit of a prediction myself-For the season, not this game.

If Arsenal beat Leicester- They will go on to win the league.

If Leicester beat Arsenal-Leicester City win the league.

Draw-Manchester City wins the league.

(Sorry Spurs, but not sorry)