Tuesday 19 April 2016 13:05, UK
Leicester City are ripping up the rule book with their extraordinary Premier League title charge.
Claudio Ranieiri's side were rated as 5000-1 outsiders for the title after narrowly avoiding relegation at the end of last season, but they sit five points clear of second-placed Tottenham after snatching a 2-2 draw against West Ham on Sunday.
With just four games of the campaign remaining, Leicester are now within touching distance of the first top-flight title in their 132-history - an achievement that would rank as one of the greatest in the history of the game.
Here, we look at some of the myths Leicester have busted on their astonishing rise to the top of the Premier League table…
You have to spend big
History suggests you have to spend big to win big in the Premier League, but Leicester's expenditure on wages and transfers is a fraction of their more illustrious rivals'. PFA Player of the Year nominees Riyad Mahrez, Jamie Vardy and N'Golo Kante cost £350,000, £1m and £5.6m respectively, and the most expensive recruit in their squad is Shinji Okazaki at just £7m.
Their favoured starting XI of Kasper Schmeichel, Danny Simpson, Robert Huth, Wes Morgan, Christian Fuchs, Kante, Danny Drinkwater, Marc Albrighton, Okazaki, Mahrez and Vardy cost a meagre £20m to put together - an eighth of the overall total spent by Manchester City in the summer transfer window alone.
You need title-winning experience
Leicester's heroics also prove title-winning experience might not be all it's cracked up to be. While the likes of Morgan, Drinkwater and Vardy formed the spine of the Foxes team that won the Championship in 2014, former Chelsea defender Robert Huth is their only player to have lifted the Premier League trophy.
In fact, the only other Leicester squad members to have won top-flight titles are fringe players Gokhan Inler, who won two Swiss Super League titles with Zurich earlier in his career, and Marcin Wasilewski, who won three Belgian Jupiler League titles during his time at Anderlecht.
Rotation is key
Sir Alex Ferguson used to extol the virtues of squad rotation at Manchester United and Claudio 'Tinkerman' Ranieri was one of its biggest advocates during his time at Chelsea, but the Leicester manager has ditched his old habits and embraced continuity at the King Power Stadium.
Leicester's starting line-up picks itself, with Ranieri naming an unchanged team for the sixth consecutive Premier League game against West Ham. If it wasn't for Vardy's sending off on Sunday, you could bet that team would have stayed the same against Swansea this weekend.
The top four is impregnable
The top four has had a predictable feel to it in recent years, with Everton and Tottenham the only 'lesser' sides to join Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool in the Champions League places since the 2004/05 season.
Leicester, though, are turning the old order on its head and proving it's possible for anyone to gatecrash the elite. Last weekend's 2-0 win over Sunderland guaranteed a top-four finish for Ranieri's men - and now they're taking aim at the title.
Four-four-two is dead
Leicester have also shown the enduring effectiveness of a 4-4-2 formation. The Premier League's big guns have generally favoured 4-2-3-1 in recent years, with a lone frontman flanked by two advanced wide players, but the Foxes have adopted a more old school approach.
Ranieri uses two strikers together in front of a flat midfield four, with Vardy playing on the last man and looking to get in behind the opposition's defence while Okazaki drops deeper to help out defensively. It's simple but effective - and it may yet fire Leicester to the title.
Possession is key
Devotees of possession-based football have been left scratching their heads by Leicester's approach. The last three Premier League-winning sides have dominated the ball and averaged at least 55 per cent possession, but Leicester prefer to sit back, defend resolutely, and play on the counter-attack.
They rank 18th in the Premier League for possession and bottom for passing accuracy, and their direct style has flummoxed their rivals. "I love it," said Ranieri in September. "I would also like to keep possession of the ball but we don't have these characteristics in the team so I prefer to go straight away."
