Leicester City were tipped by many to go straight back down following their promotion to the Premier League.
This was not helped by the fact Leicester City lost their promotion-winning manager in Enzo Maresca as well as star man Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall in the summer.
Few viewed the appointment of Steve Cooper as manager as inspired enough to improve Leicester’s survival chances, whilst the financial uncertainty around the club further exacerbated how tough it would be to stay up.
A poor start to the season did not help, but Cooper earned a first league win as Leicester manager against Bournemouth last time out and now takes his side to Southampton on Saturday as he looks to make it back-to-back wins.
Leicester City backed to avoid relegation
Ahead of the campaign, data experts Opta published their Premier League predictions based on 10,000 simulations of the season.
The pre-season projections were pretty damning for Leicester, with Opta predicting their chances of relegation to be 60.3%.
However, Leicester are currently 15th in the Premier League on six points and that has seen them significantly improve their chances of survival.
Now, according to Opta’s latest report, Leicester’s chances of relegation have dropped to 44.8%; meaning the Foxes are now considered more likely to stay up than go down.
Leicester City must beat relegation favourites Southampton
Of the three newly-promoted sides, Leicester have now been given the best chance of surviving in the Premier League this season.
Ipswich Town’s chances of relegation are now 60.1% after four draws and four defeats from their first four games, but Southampton have seen themselves all but written off already by Opta with a 90.7% chance of facing the drop.
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This just highlights how crucial it is for Cooper to mastermind a win over the Saints on Saturday as it would not only give Leicester’s survival hopes another boost but condemn a relegation rival to more misery.