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At times this season many Leicester City fans have been left wondering just what is Claude Puel trying to achieve with his team.

The City boss has constantly been chopping and changing his starting line-ups, as if he was searching for the magical formula that would transform City from a side blighted by bewildering inconsistency into a team that is ready to fulfil its obvious potential.

There have been changes of formation, with two defensive midfielders, then three and now back to one.

The wide players have chopped and changed regularly. Demarai Gray has been on the left, on the right, in the number ten role and even leading the line.

James Maddison has been utilised as the number ten and wide on the left, while Ricardo Pereira has been used as a right-back and right winger.

At the back the central defensive partnership has changed constantly between Harry Maguire, Jonny Evans, Wes Morgan and sometimes Caglar Soyuncu, although mainly through suspension and injury.

The disrupted selection and tactics has contributed to disrupted displays and results, but in the last three league games, and at Tottenham Hotspur in particular, there has been evidence that Puel may finally be finding the right combinations and ingredients in his team.

THE DEFENCE

The back four, the foundation of any side, is finally starting to look settled. Ricardo Pereira, after a poor start to his City career, is now one of the side’s more consistent performers, and looks settled at right-back.

Ben Chilwell, arguably City’s player of the season, is assured at left-back, while Maguire and Evans have displayed a burgeoning partnership at centre-back.

THE MIDFIELD

In midfield, the arrival of Youri Tielemans seems to have totally changed the dynamic.

One of the many sticks used to beat Puel was his apparent negativity in midfield with unexciting over reliance on defensive midfielders.

Papy Mendy and Wilfred Ndidi were his go-to guys, with Hamza Choudhury adding to that midfield strength.

More creative players like Vicente Iborra and most notably Adrien Silva were generally ignored, but in recent weeks Puel has hinted he has been looking to add more creativity to his midfield.

There was the short-lived use of Marc Albrighton in a deeper role, in an attempt to create a supply line for Jamie Vardy, who has been starved of the early through-ball or long pass over the top.

James Maddison was never tried in a more deep-lying role, due probably to Puel’s concerns over the defensive aspects of his play.

However, the midfield he went with at Wembley Stadium provided hope that Puel may now have the answer, with Ndidi drafted in at the last minute for Mendy as the holding midfielder, with Tielemans and Maddison given similar roles either side of Ndidi, allowing more licence to get forward and support the front three.

The box-to-box nature of their displays provided City with more fluidity to their play, while Ndidi arguably had his best game of the season when asked to play his more natural game.

THE ATTACK

It seems Puel has now settled on a three-man attack now too, with Harvey Barnes now settling in on the left.

Having left Vardy out, much to the annoyance of the City fans at Spurs, City’s top scorer will surely regain his place against Crystal Palace, leaving the right flank berth open for Gray to switch from the midfield, and Rachid Ghezzal dropping to the bench.

Puel said he left Vardy out so he could look at different options in attack, but it is more likely the decision was made just to remind all his squad who is really in charge.

Why else, when you now have the supply line from midfield that Vardy has craved all season, would you then leave your best striker out?

Whether Puel has stumbled upon his formation or whether it has been born through design will depend on each supporter’s personal view of Puel, but it does feel to many that City could now, finally, be taking shape.

The next two home games, which have been Puel’s Achilles heel this season, will demonstrate whether Puel has finally found the answers and whether his master plan has an end goal.