Leicester City fans will be fearing the worst after Friday’s shock defeat to Newcastle but the Foxes are still in charge of their own destiny as we head into the final three games of the season. Jake Raynes explains how Brendan Rodgers’ men can enter the Champions League for Foxes of Leicester.
Five points dropped against ten man Southampton and a rampant Newcastle mean Leicester need to do it the hard way if they want to play in the Champions League next season.
The majority of predictive models suggest Leicester have a 60-75 per cent chance of finishing in the top four. Taking all possible scenarios in to account, most routes suggest Leicester will need six points from the final three games to to secure a place in the Europe’s most lucrative tournament and bolster Leicester chances in the transfer market.
Leicester face off against Manchester United on Tuesday before attentions turn to an equally important FA Cup final against Chelsea at the weekend. Brendan’s side will face off against Thomas Tuchel again just three days later before a final day clash against Spurs at the King Power on the 23rd of May. A big week, indeed.
On paper this is a ridiculously hard run in and the Foxes will regret not getting points on the board sooner, nevertheless, true to form this unprecedented season has thrown a few more twists into the mix. Protests against the Glazer ownership of course postponed the Manchester United Liverpool game last week and as we now know this has been rescheduled for Thursday the 13th of May meaning Manchester United will play three games in five days.
At the time of writing Manchester United have kicked off against Aston Villa and have fielded a virtually full strength side, come Tuesday this will mean one of two things; Leicester face a heavily rotated Man United or a full strength United who have played just over 48 hours earlier. This is of course reason for encouragement for the Foxes who will have had three full days to rest before the must win fixture.
It is reasonable to assume United will rest some key players for the match with one eye on a rivalry clash with Liverpool just two days later and a chance to effectively end their bitter rival’s Champions League hopes. A win for Leicester against a weakened Manchester United followed by Liverpool dropping points two days later would put some distance between the sides once more.
West Ham find themselves in a slightly better position than Liverpool due to a very kind fixture run against Everton, Brighton & Hove Albion, West Bromwich Albion and Southampton. However any dropped points for either Liverpool or West Ham would mean six points would be enough for Leicester to hang on to a top four spot.
A win against United on Tuesday could prove vital for Leicester but also would only be half the job done as far as Champions League qualification is concerned. A real boost for Rodgers would come in the form of heavy Solskaer rotation. Former Fox Harry Maguire was withdrawn with a knock, incidentally, but his status is unconfirmed at present.
Chelsea will perhaps be inclined to rotate after playing the Foxes just days earlier in the FA Cup but with their squad depth this may not necessarily be a positive, as much as many fans will want to go into the last day pressure free it seems very likely that the match up against Spurs may be needed to decide Leicester’s fate.
It’s highly unlikely that Spurs will go into the last day with anything to play for which could be a blessing or a curse for Leicester, what we can say for sure is that the next three weeks are going to be very nervy for the Foxes faithful who will be hoping to avoid a similar finish to last season.