The first half of Gameweek 29 saw a late defeat at Crystal Palace end Brendan Rodgers’ tenure as Leicester City manager. It continued the recent spurt of dismissals that cost Patrick Vieira, Antonio Conte and Graham Potter their jobs, although the Foxes’ situation has worsened since.

Losing at home to Bournemouth on Saturday means they have just one point from eight matches, freefalling into 19th place without bagging a clean sheet in five months.

Therefore they’ve asked former Aston Villa and Norwich City boss Dean Smith to take charge until the summer, ahead of rumoured candidates Jesse Marsch and Rafael Benitez.

So will Smith steer the 2015/16 champions to safety and what Fantasy Premier League (FPL) impact will he have?

We’ll attempt to answer those questions below.

THE HISTORY

As a player, centre-back Smith played almost 500 games combined for Walsall, Hereford United and Leyton Orient. It was a career spent mostly in the third tier but his managerial qualities have subsequently seen him rise up the leagues.

In January 2011, he was promoted from Walsall’s Head of Youth to become first team manager and quickly made an impact, taking them from nine points adrift of safety to League One survival.

* these league positions are taken at the time of Smith’s departure

When Smith moved up to Championship side Brentford in November 2015, he left Walsall in a fourth-placed position, fresh from the previous campaign’s Football League Trophy final.

It was an interesting appointment from the Bees, considering the club’s structure of data analysis and clever transfers which eventually propelled them to the Premier League. Smith solidified them as a lower top-half side, playing attractive football via Ollie Watkins (£7.6m), Rico Henry (£4.6m), Neal Maupay (£5.7m) and Said Benrahma (£5.5m).

However, as a boyhood Aston Villa fan, Smith couldn’t resist the chance of rescuing the sleeping giant club of his heart. When moving to Villa Park in October 2018, they were 15th in the Championship. Poor January and February results coincided with a Jack Grealish (£7.0m) injury but ten successive spring victories propelled them into the play-off spots, completing the job by defeating Derby County at Wembley.

Smith had two full Premier League seasons with Villa. Alongside a League Cup final, the first brought last-day survival as part of a fantastic Project Restart, where Covid allowed Smith and his staff to think deeply about how to transform their fortunes.

2020/21 saw 15 clean sheets, a phenomenal 7-2 thrashing over champions Liverpool and an 11th-placed finish, although the following summer’s sale of Grealish spelt the beginning of the end for Smith. Such a large £100m fee soon went on the likes of Danny Ings (£6.4m), Emiliano Buendia (£5.7m) and Leon Bailey (£4.4m), before Villa decided to part company after five straight defeats had them down in 16th.

Yet eight days later, Smith was named the new Norwich manager. Despite winning his first match in charge, he wasn’t able to keep the Canaries up and – by the time he was let go around Christmas – they were already 12 points behind the Championship’s top two.

FAVOURED TACTICS

By trusting him with their precious Premier League status, Leicester are hoping for similar late-season heroics to those experienced at Villa in 2020. Smith mentioned this in his unveiling, plus returning new assistant Craig Shakespeare being part of the Foxes’ extraordinary 2014/15 survival.

“As a package, the three of us, it’s a good package. I’ve been in this situation before at my previous club, Aston Villa, with ten games to go at the end of a season. Craig [Shakespeare] is an outstanding assistant manager, as everyone at this Football Club knows. He’s done it here previously, keeping a team up.

“JT [John Terry] is an outstanding defensive coach, but he also brings vast experience of the Premier League, playing at the elite levels. Each of the three of us will bring something that the players can tap into I’m sure.” – Dean Smith

Interestingly, Smith did his UEFA Pro License course alongside Brendan Rodgers in 2008, before going on to develop a preferred style where his attackers press tirelessly and defenders try to remain compact.

THE PROSPECTS

Leicester’s season has fallen apart since beating Spurs 4-1 in Gameweek 23. Defeats to relegation rivals Bournemouth, Southampton and Crystal Palace, alongside a clean sheet absence lasting 15 outings.

The period from Gameweek 24 onwards has them as the league’s lowest scorers with four goals. Furthermore, the only worse team for shots on target has played two games fewer.

That seriously dampens the appeal of midfielder James Maddison (£8.2m), bought by many for the Foxes’ good-looking fixtures of recent times. Just one assist has arrived over his last six, so he’s likely on the chopping block ahead of Gameweek 31’s trip to Manchester City.

Until Gameweek 27, Maddison ranked seventh amongst all midfielders for goal attempts – although only three of the 57 were deemed big chances – and his rate of 26.8 minutes per shot was bettered solely by Rodrigo (£6.3m) from those that regularly play.

However, with just six shots and an expected goals (xG) tally of 0.27 over Maddison’s last four appearances, perhaps their best FPL attacker has now shifted to Harvey Barnes (£6.7m).

The 25-year-old is on more goals, more FPL points and has the third-most big chances of midfielders, bettered only by Marcus Rashford (£7.2m) and Mohamed Salah (£12.8m). Fourth for shots on target, it should be noted that Barnes could be held back by a potential hamstring injury picked up on Saturday.

Elsewhere in FPL, it’s not known whether Daniel Iversen (£3.8m) or Danny Ward (£3.9m) will be Smith’s preferred goalkeeper, although it’s a defence to stay away from regardless.

Leicester’s forwards share starts and the club only comes 14th on our Season Ticker for ease of remaining fixtures. Managers may be tempted to invest for the run of Leeds United (a), Everton (h) and Fulham (a) but will need to be convinced beforehand that a turnaround really can happen.

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