Leicester fairy tale turns into nightmare
MANCHESTER, England — Soccer’s greatest fairy tale is proving to have the gloomiest of sequels.
Leicester, the unfashionable English club that enchanted the sporting world by winning the Premier League as a 5,000-1 outsider last season, plunged closer to the relegation zone in its woeful title defence after losing 2-0 at Swansea on Sunday.
It was a fifth straight league defeat for the stuttering champions and a 14th loss in 25 games this campaign. They haven’t scored in more than 10 hours of league play, stretching back to the final day of 2016.
With 13 games remaining, Leicester is one place and one point above the bottom three as it looks to avoid becoming the first defending champion to be relegated from England’s top division in 79 years. On current form, Claudio Ranieri’s team is heading only one way, especially with other relegation rivals like Swansea and Hull starting to hit form after a change in manager.
Ranieri’s job appears safe for now — Leicester’s Thai owner, Vichai Srivaddhanaprabh, issued a public show of support for the Italian coach in a statement this week — but something needs to change, and quickly.
“We have two problems; we concede goals and don’t score,” Ranieri said.
“We have to stick together and find a solution. It’s not possible to continue this way.”
It could get even worse, though, with two of Leicester’s next three games being against Liverpool and Arsenal. The team also resumes its Champions League campaign in 10 days with a trip to Sevilla for the first leg of their last-16 match.
Leicester was undone by two well-taken goals by defenders in the first half.
Alfie Mawson executed his like a striker, the centre back meeting a header back across the area by Federico Fernandez with a sweet first-time strike from 10 metres that flew past Leicester goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel. It was Mawson’s third goal in six games.
Martin Olsson’s goal came from more of a team move, with Fernando Llorente and Gylfi Sigurdsson combining to send the Sweden international through down the left.
He closed in on Schmeichel and buried a low shot inside the goalkeeper’s near post.
Leicester’s league title looks to be heading to Chelsea, although the runaway leader had an uncomfortable time in a 1-1 draw at Burnley earlier Sunday.
Chelsea moved 10 points clear of Tottenham and Arsenal, who are in second and third place respectively.
Manchester City trimmed Chelsea’s lead to eight points by beating Bournemouth 2-0 on Monday in the final game of the 25th round of fixtures.
BURNLEY 1, CHELSEA 1
This turned into a tough test for Chelsea in snowy, bitingly cold conditions against a team that had won nine of its last 10 games at its Turf Moor stadium.
Pedro Rodriguez finished off a rapid counterattack to put Chelsea ahead in the seventh minute, but Burnley equallized through Robbie Brady’s curling, 25-metre free-kick in the 24th and created the better chances after that.
It was only the third time that Chelsea has dropped points since late September, after a loss to Tottenham and draw at Liverpool last month.
Chelsea remains a huge title favourite, with its next five league games against opponents in 10th place or lower — Swansea, West Ham, Watford, Stoke and Crystal Palace.
MAN CITY 2, B-MOUTH 0
Manchester City overcame Gabriel Jesus’ early departure because of injury to beat Bournemouth 2-0 and put some heat on Chelsea.
Raheem Sterling’s 29th-minute strike and an own-goal in the 69th from Tyrone Mings, who deflected in an effort from substitute Sergio Aguero, earned City a third straight league win.