You Bet | Premier League bets of the weekend: Back them again, Leicester have been outstanding value all season

Well done Leicester City, worthy English Premier League champions by virtually every measure. While many expected Claudio Ranieri’s men to crack under pressure, they stood firm and saw Manchester City, Arsenal and finally Tottenham lose their nerve and form.

Wins: Leicester have a 61 per cent strike rate, the best in the league, and crucially they have been effective at every level. Against bottom-half teams they have won 15 out of 19 and drawn the other four, which makes them joint-best with City.

However, unlike City, they have also performed well in the big games, going unbeaten against every team in the top six apart from Arsenal, who beat them home and away but did not have the consistency to make it count. Leicester’s 1-0 win at Tottenham in January, followed three weeks later by their stunning 3-1 victory at City, bore the hallmark of champions even then.

Losses: Leicester have suffered only three defeats and, if they do not lose either of their two remaining matches, they will match Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea, who last season became the champions with the lowest number of defeats in the past decade. Other teams in that period have lost fewer than three matches and not won the title, which emphasises the importance of Leicester’s high win strike rate. Even so, to lose only three times in such a competitive season is a magnificent achievement.

Goals: Leicester rank third in the scoring charts with 64 goals (behind City on 68 and Tottenham on 67) but their ability to overwhelm teams with their attacking prowess was a key factor in putting them top at Christmas. At that stage they were the leading scorers, with Jamie Vardy having found the net in a record 11 consecutive matches, and their ability to score freely had earned them 10 points from losing positions in their first 17 games.

Clean sheets: Ranieri shrewdly realised that relying on his attack was an unsustainable strategy in the long run and in the second half of the season he made sure they were much harder to score against, which in turn meant one goal by Leicester often sufficed. After just three clean sheets in their first 18 games, they have recorded 12 in the last 18 and had six 1-0 wins.