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Are Leicester Getting Sub Concious Favouritism From Ref's !

It seems that the whole of football apart from Spurs fans want Leicester City to win the Premier League, but has this affected refereeing decisions.

There can be no doubting that should Leicester City win the Premier League it will be a breath of fresh air, in the previous 22 seasons of the Premier League it has been the preserve of four clubs, Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and latterly Manchester City, only Blackburn have broken their domination and that was 21 years ago. And if you take into account the fact that Arsenal have not won a title now in 12 years up until this season the Premier League has been predictable to say the least.

In contrast in the 25 seasons before the Premier League was formed a total of 10 clubs won the old First division including the likes of Nottingham Forest & Derby County.

This monopoly of recent years has led to a feeling amongst football supporters that if the Premier League's aim was to get the rich club's richer then it has achieved it and more.

That means that if you don't support one of those four clubs who have won it since Blackburn, very few of you have experienced a genuine title challenge in the Premier League even if it did end in failure, perhaps Liverpool being the only other club who have vaguely threatened a title win.

This season has been a very strange one and perhaps a worrying one if you are the Chairman of a TV company that broadcasts Champions League games, if Chelsea and Manchester United were to fail to qualify for the Champions league it would be a viewing figure disaster.

But away from the armchair world of football supporting you won't find many who do not want to see Leicester City win the title and perhaps show the rest of us that we can compete against the big boys, but the rest of us do not equal the armchair masses both at home and abroad.

But there seems to be one area of football that seems to be sub conciously willing Leicester on and that is Premier League officials, Ok I accept that the standard this season has been appalling, the men in the middle have been consistently getting it wrong although I do accept that it is hard for them with the number of divers and cheats about these days. Even the linesmen are no real help to them, too many just seem to be willing to do no more than point the flag in the direction that the ref wants at throw ins and give the occasional offside.

Perhaps I am still a little raw after Sunday's game against the Foxes which saw four controversial moments with all four going the way of the home side, but I think that perhaps Leicester have taken over the mantle of Manchester United in just seeming to keep getting the rub of the green in refereeing decisions even when it looks stacked against them.

I can understand why the referee did not spot Danny Simpson's handball, he had kept his hands close to his body and then used his elbow, it looked accidental, but it was deliberate, Robert Huth's transgression was a lot clearer and the linesman should have helped out his referee there.

The goal was a little less controversial but Morgan did push Clasie, it was slight but I have seen them given for less.

Likewise Jamie Vardy's studs up challenge on Steven Davis, it could be said he won the ball, but his studs were up and it was reckless, it should have been at least a yellow and there are some who would have given red, again I have seen them given for less as the saying goes.

I don't think that the referee was deliberately cheating, but the question is are officials being carried along on the fairytale that is Leicester's season and are they sub conciously giving decisions their way.

Now before you dismiss this as just sour grapes there are statistics that do back up my theory.

Teamtalk.com have a table that monitors controversial decisions and details each club and those decisions that have gone for and against them.

Leicester City currently sit equal first in the table with 14 gone for them and only 7 against a score of +7, alongside them are Manchester United with the same difference although they have only 9 for and 2 against.

Ironically Saints sit near the bottom with 6 going for them and 11 against.

So it does seem that Leicester are getting more than their fair share of decisions going their way, no other club has more controversial decisions than the 21 they have had and no club has more than the 14 that have gone their way, indeed half the league hasn't even had 14 controversial moments in total let alone gone for them.

So the evidence is perhaps pointing to the fact that Leicester are getting a little bit of the rub of the green in terms of refereeing decisions as we found out on Sunday.

It is no different than back in the day when Sir Alex Ferguson ruled the roost at Old Trafford and created an atmosphere in games where it helped tip the referee's mindsway at crucial times.

In fairness to Leicester I don't thins Claudio Ranieri is trying to do the same thing as Ferguson, but the media is doing that work for him, it is creating a situation where Leicester are seen as the saviours of football after decades of big club domination, referee's are human and it will affect them as much as anyone else.

This is not a rant against Leicester City, indeed I hope that they go on and win the Premier League and I will applaud them as much as the next man, as i said i don't think it is a situation created by themselves, but they are benefiting from it at the moment.

From this point I am just highlighting what i have seen in recent weeks backed up by some statistics.

So good luck to Leicester City and there supporters in the coming weeks, finish the job you have started.

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