Clarity established
Leicester’s appeal against the six-point deduction failed this week, as did the Premier League’s attempt to increase the penalty by at least a further point. There is now no uncertainty over the Foxes’ position and full attention can be directed at getting out of the mess the club is in.
Swansea City looked like their easiest remaining game. The Swans have a poor away record and, going into the game at the King Power Stadium, sat in a comfortable, but hardly memorable, 15th position in the table. A word of warning though. They do possess Zan Vipotnik, the Championship’s leading scorer.
It is possible to sympathise with Gary Rowett’s predicament when it comes to selecting his first XI. For one thing, after deciding that Patson Daka – after his stunning performance against Preston - was the most likely of Leicester’s forward players to get much-needed goals he was back to his worst against Wednesday and it was Jordan Ayew, coming off the bench, who shone. Against the Swans, he opted for Daka again.
Another decision for the Foxes’ boss going into the match with the South Wales team was whether to stick with Jakub Stolarczyk in goal or, as many fans seem to want, bring back Asmir Begovich who is available again after injury. The Polish keeper kept his place. The one surprise in the line-up was the return of Jannik Vestergaard to the centre of defence in place of Caleb Okoli
There is no doubt that Rowett was hoping that Jordan James would be fit enough to start. In the event, the midfielder made a welcome return on the bench.
Only themselves to blame
The game followed the same pattern as the previous three. The Foxes spurned a host of chances in the first half. Three of them – to Ricardo Pereira, Abdul Fatawu and Oliver Skipp – were very presentable.
In the second half, Leicester pressed for that elusive first goal only to concede in comical fashion. Divine Mukasa stood over a free kick wide on the right near the Swan's goal. The set piece coach Andrew Hughes (who should be one of the first to receive his P45 in the Summer) could be heard clearly calling for the ball to be slipped short to Harry Winks on the edge of the box. If I could hear it then the chances are then so could the Swansea defenders. And sure enough, the ball was intercepted by Eom Ji-Sung who was then allowed to run the length of the pitch before putting in Vipotnik who dispatched the chance. It was Swansea’s first and only shot on target.
After the goal, with the Leicester fans getting increasingly hostile, the team offered no effective response.
Relegation now odds-on
At the end of the game, chants of ‘you’re not fit to wear the shirt’ echoed through a half-full King Power Stadium. With Portsmouth and Oxford both winning, Leicester are getting marooned in the relegation places and look now likely to crash into League One.
With four games left, the Foxes will probably have to win at least two of them, and possibly three. Such an outcome seems unlikely given the recent record. Since the 2-1 victory over West Brom on the 5th January, the club’s run of results – won one, drawn seven and lost eight – has been truly dreadful. Given that the Foxes still have to play Millwall and Hull, both challenging for a play-off position, as well as difficult away matches against relegation rivals Portsmouth and Blackburn, few would give them a chance of escaping.
Relegation to League One will be a financial calamity. If Top (who was again absent from the King Power Stadium today) and his colleagues decide that they are unwilling or unable to continue subsidising the club, it will quickly run out of money leading to administration and an automatic 12-point penalty. These are grim times indeed.