Time for change
Listening to Ruud van Nistelrooy’s pre-match press conference, it was clear that he was all but admitting that his club’s days as a Premier League outfit are, for now, coming to an end. He is right, of course, to be negative. With Wolves winning on Tuesday night, putting them 12 points ahead of the Foxes, relegation for the Foxes is all but certain.
Given the circumstances, one would have thought, that this was the time to experiment with his team selection, bringing in, maybe, some of the much-lauded, youngsters from the thriving academy set up who are likely to figure in the Championship next season.
Not a bit of it. The Leicester boss stuck with the tried, and not to be trusted, set-up which has served the club so badly this season. None of the youngsters even merited a place on the bench. The absence of Jannik Vestergaard and Harry Winks from the squad, two central players in Enzo Maresca's championship winning side last season, was also striking,
For their part, Manchester City were forced to make a change up front with top-scorer Erling Haaland missing through an injury picked up in the FA Cup win at Bournemouth. However, before Foxes’ fans get too excited, his replacement - the £60 million Egyptian striker Omar Marmoush – was likely to provide a stern test for Leicester’s porous defence.