A daunting challenge awaits Leicester City as they travel to Chelsea in the Premier League.
The Foxes are marooned in the bottom three by five points, and recent performances suggest there is no way out for Ruud van Nistelrooy.
Leicester City have lost 11 of their previous 12 league games and were beaten 2-0 by West Ham last week, piling further misery onto an angry fanbase.
Shockingly, Leicester’s owners are keeping faith with Van Nistelrooy, despite the club heading straight back down to the Championship, and that will worry the supporters.
Ahead of their trip to Chelsea on Sunday and a reunion with Enzo Maresca, not even the most optimistic of supporters can predict a positive result.
Photo by Plumb Images/Leicester City FC via Getty Images
Photo by Plumb Images/Leicester City FC via Getty Images
Paul Merson predicts Chelsea vs Leicester City
Leicester have let two winnable games pass them by without scoring a goal and conceding six against Brentford and West Ham. Now, their fixture run is unforgiving.
Following their trip to Chelsea, it’s Manchester United, Manchester City, Newcastle, Brighton and Liverpool across March and April.
Should Leicester play like anything they did in February, Van Nistelrooy could easily suffer six defeats on the bounce, and that would be a travesty.
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Unsurprisingly, Paul Merson thinks Leicester will kick off that run with a 3-0 loss against Chelsea on Sunday.
“I can’t see anything but a Chelsea win here. Leicester have been poor this season. Even Chelsea have had major issues over the last few weeks, but back-to-back wins against Southampton and Leicester can now put them back on track,” Merson wrote in his column for Sportskeeda.
“If Chelsea lose this game, their aspiration of finishing in the top four will be over. I know Chelsea beat Southampton 4-0, but I can’t judge them based on that result.”
Leicester’s H2H record against Chelsea
Going to Stamford Bridge and winning is never easy for any visiting side, never mind one who has taken seven points from a possible 42 in the league under Van Nistelrooy.
That is demonstrated by Leicester’s horrible run against the Blues, tasting defeat in six of their last seven matches. In fact, their last win in this fixture was in the FA Cup final in 2021.
Date Fixture W/D/L Scoreline Competition
18 May 2021 Chelsea v Leicester City L 2-1 Premier League
20 Nov 2021 Leicester City v Chelsea L 0-3 Premier League
19 May 2022 Chelsea v Leicester City D 1-1 Premier League
27 Aug 2022 Chelsea v Leicester City L 2-1 Premier League
11 Mar 2023 Leicester City v Chelsea L 1-3 Premier League
17 Mar 2024 Chelsea v Leicester City L 4-2 FA Cup
23 Nov 2024 Leicester City v Chelsea L 1-2 Premier League
City haven’t won in the blue corner of West London since December 2018 when Jamie Vardy scored the winning goal, and they’ll be praying for him to roll back the years this weekend.