1 day to Premier League season: Leicester can’t do it again, can they?

• More: Richard Jolly's predictions | Fixtures in UAE time

The National's sports team is counting down the days until defending champions Leicester City take on newly promoted Hull City in the opening fixture of the 2016/17 English Premier League season by looking at one team a day. Today, Leicester City.

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If Leicester’s fairy-tale title win last season was improbable, surely the only thing that could top it is a repeat?

That scenario looks increasingly unlikely, for many reasons, but with the seemingly inevitable break-up of their team – N’Golo Kante has joined Chelsea, and Riyad Mahrez’s future continues to be a subject of hot debate – then manager Claudio Ranieri is right to dampen expectations, spouting the message of “40 points is the target”, one they reached last season by the turn of the year, rather than delusions of repeating their heroics of 2015/16.

But that doesn’t mean Leicester fans don’t have plenty to look forward to. Jamie Vardy resisted Arsenal’s overtures and a Champions League campaign taking on the cream of Europe awaits.

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Previously

• Hull City: Promoted club had unstable summer

• Middlesbrough: Hopes lie largely in Spaniards

• Burnley: Third time the charm?

• Sunderland: Moyes the make-or-break factor in survival hopes

• Bournemouth: Well placed to avoid 'second season syndrome'

• Crystal Palace: Time to deliver on all that talent

• West Bromwich Albion: Another season of mid-table mediocrity

• Watford: Early fixtures will set the tone – for better or worse

• Swansea City: Swans need a striker, and stability

• Everton: In good hands with Koeman