Premier League: Hull City - Leicester City 12.08.2016 13:30

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Premier League: Hull City - Leicester City



The new Premier League season is finally here. The first round will be opened on Saturday with an interesting clash between newly-promoted Hull City and the reigning champions Leicester. The Foxes began the past season as one of the biggest outsiders but they were giving brilliant performances for most of the year, topping their fabulous campaign with the Premier League title, sometimes referred to as the most unexpected achievement in the history of team sports. Over the time, Leicester transformed into an experienced, well-organized and confident side that can hardly be underestimated by any club this season. Let us see how they do in their opening game against Hull. Starting at 1:30 PM (CET), the match between Hull City and Leicester will be played at the KCOM Stadium in Kingston upon Hull.



Hull City



As Hull finished fourth in the Football League Championship last year, they failed to claim direct qualifying for the Premier League. Instead, they had to go the play-offs, where they faced Derby County in the first round and Sheffield Wednesday in the second round. Eventually, the Tigers managed to beat both of their rivals, securing their spot in the highest league. Unfortunately for their fans who were hoping to see some new players, Hull City were not very active during the summer transfer window. In fact, they even lost their head coach after the former manager Steve Bruce resigned last month and they are yet to find a replacement for him. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that the Tigers are considered one of the biggest outsiders of the league and their only goal will probably be the survival. In their first duel, Hull will face the current champions Leicester who they actually beat in the League Cup last year. However, claiming another win in the Saturday game would be very surprising.



Leicester City



At the beginning of the last season, the odds offered on Leicester winning the league were insane 5000:1. Yet, Ranieri´s men managed to shock the whole football world as they beat the seemingly unbeatable odds and made it all the way up to the league title. This year, the odds on them defending the title are far from such exorbitant numbers but Leicester are not among the biggest candidates to win the trophy either. The Foxes managed to keep both of their two brightest stars Vardy and Mahrez but they lost their key midfielder Kante. Also, we can only speculate if all the players stayed in the fabulous form they were in last year. In fact, the summer preparation suggested Leicester might be far from where they left off as they lost most of their warm-up duels. Ranieri´s men already opened their season with a Community Shield match against greatly improved Manchester United who won the game 2:1. But Hull should be much easier prey for the Foxes who are expected to prevail in the fixture.



Summary



The reigning Premier League champions, Leicester are entering the new league season and the question many fans have is: “Will they be able to repeat the astonishing run this year again?” The team´s coach Ranieri managed to keep most of his key players and he also brought several new signings in the squad but it is a well known fact that defending a title is usually harder than claiming it for the first time. Moreover, Leicester are likely to have their work cut out for them in every single match as they are now viewed as an elite and attractive opponent. Let us see how the Foxes cope with this new kind of pressure in their opener against's Hull City.