With Premier League safety 12 points away and only eight games remaining, relegation is now an inevitability for Leicester City.
It may still be mathematically possible. But those who have followed this Leicester side all season will know the prospect of this particular team going on an incredible run in the final stretch of the season, combined with Wolverhampton Wanderers losing all of their fixtures, just isn’t realistic.
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In fact, it is fanciful. Even Ipswich Town and Southampton have shown more signs of life this week.
The club motto may be Foxes Never Quit, and Ruud van Nistelrooy says he will ensure his players don’t wave the white flag while there is still a glimmer of hope, but the sad truth is the Championship now beckons for the second time in three seasons.
“We live in reality,” Van Nistelrooy said after the defeat to Manchester City on Wednesday night. “We know what the situation is in the table, points-wise, 12 points (away from safety) with eight games to play.
“Mathematically, it’s not over, and we have the responsibility to keep going, and there’s no other way than doing that.
“I keep going because it is about personal pride and honour to do the job the best you can in any circumstance.”
After defeat at the reigning champions stretched their losing sequence to 14 of the previous 15 league games, there appears to be little left to play for this season for this group of players, many of whom will know they won’t be at the club next season.
(Michael Steele/Getty Images)
The annual accounts for 2023-24, after their relegation, showed that the wage bill was slashed by £98million to £107.2m, but was still the highest budget in the Championship. More cuts will need to be made this time, especially as Leicester continue to strategise with the spectre of profit and sustainability rules (PSR) looming over their shoulder.
When the final knockout blow will actually arrive is hard to predict, but with a home game with Newcastle United followed by a trip to Brighton & Hove Albion and then the visit of champions-elect Liverpool, it should come soon.
The writing may be on the wall for Leicester and many of the current squad, but there is still something incredibly important to play for: personal pride.
If this squad have anything about them, they will want to avoid the tag of being part of the worst Leicester side in Premier League history, or, even worse, top-flight history. But this team is now on course to become just that, eclipsing the sides of 1977-78, 1994-95 and 2001-02.
A run of seven consecutive home defeats is a league record for the club, but the fact that Leicester have failed to score in all of the games in that sequence makes it a top-flight league record.
(Michael Regan/Getty Images)
When they failed to score at the Etihad Stadium, it stretched Leicester’s run of games without scoring home and away to seven, which is also a club record.
City have some other notable but unwanted landmarks looming, too. They have lost 10 home games this season and have reached that figure three times previously, twice during the Premier League era (1977-78; 1994-95; 2022-23). That seems certain to be eclipsed this season.
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So far this season Leicester have won just four games. The club record low is five victories, which has been ‘achieved’ on two occasions, including once in the Premier League (1977-78; 2001-02). Similarly, the record for fewest home wins stands at three, which has been achieved on two occasions (2001-02; 2003-04), both in the Premier League. Van Nistelrooy’s men have won just twice on home soil in the league.
Leicester’s club record for consecutive league defeats stands at eight, set from March 17, 2001, following the infamous FA Cup exit to Wycombe Wanderers. Wednesday’s defeat at the Etihad stretched the current run to seven consecutive defeats and they have already reached that total once before this season, scoring only 2 goals. The current run is without a single goal at the right end.
The highest total in all competitions is nine consecutive defeats, in 2000-01. Including the FA Cup loss to Manchester United, the current run is now up to eight.
The record for consecutive games without a win is 16, set in the 2001-02 season.
The two goals they conceded at Manchester City took their tally to 67 for the season (30 home and 37 away). The club’s Premier League record is 80 (1994-95), which is certainly reachable in eight games with Leicester currently conceding over two goals a game, while their highest in any division is 112.
They have kept just one clean sheet this season. The club record is four in the Premier League (1994-95) and their lowest in any season is just two (1948-49; 1957-58).
(Clive Mason/Getty Images)
Scoring goals has also been a huge issue, and they have scored just 25, with only 11 at home. The club’s record low tally in the Premier League is 30 (2001-02) with their worst in any season standing at 26 (1977-78).
As for their points total, they are currently on just 17, still 11 away from their lowest-ever total in the Premier League, 28 (2001-02). Their lowest-ever tally during the era of two points for a win was 22 (1908-09; 1977-78).
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In statistical terms, 1977-78, 1994-95 and 2001-02 were particularly poor overall, but this campaign is heading towards eclipsing even those in infamy. It is hard to imagine a worse sequence than 14 defeats in 15 games.
This season could end up eclipsing all of those seasons and become a record-breaking one for all the wrong reasons.
No player or manager would be proud to have that stain on their footballing CV. Leicester fans will hope that this acts as a form of motivation as a torrid campaign draws to a close.
(Header photo: Gareth Copley/Getty Images)
This news was originally published on this post .
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