Leicester chase one win to avoid drop
renewed feel-good factor at Leicester City is seeping away and the Premier League champions still have work to do ahead of Saturday’s trip to West Bromwich Albion. Craig Shakespeare, who took over as manager following title-winning boss Claudio Ranieri’s sacking in February, has lost just three of his 11 games in charge.
Yet the third of those defeats, at Arsenal on Wednesday, left the Foxes still with just 37 points and glancing over their shoulders at potential relegation problems with five games remaining.
One more victory should allay any fears, but until the 40-point barrier is passed, Shakespeare knows his own long-term future is unlikely to be resolved by Leicester’s Thai owners. “When they first appointed me I said if they want to (talk) that is fine,” he said. “I am quite comfortable, but my remit was to the end of the season.
Shakespeare will be keen to restore Wes Morgan to the heart of his defence for the trip to Albion, where the Leicester manager played as a midfielder and cut his teeth in coaching.
Morgan returned from a back injury for the second leg of the Champions League quarter-final defeat to Atletico Madrid, but the centre-back then suffered a hamstring problem that forced him to miss the 1-0 midweek loss at the Emirates Stadium.
“I am hoping he can train fully with the lads who haven’t played at Arsenal,” said Shakespeare. “It is a quick turn around and we need to dust ourselves down very quickly and it doesn’t give us much recovery time.
“We are disappointed in the dressing room but we have another game against a tough opponent on Saturday.”
Yohan Benalouane has deputised impressively during Morgan’s absence while the pair played together against Atletico when Robert Huth was suspended. That gives Shakespeare a selection headache if Morgan is declared fit, although the captain would be favourite to start ahead of the French-born Tunisian. Wissam Ben Yedder scored three minutes after entering the game to give Sevilla a late 2-1 win over 10-man Celta Vigo in the Spanish league on Thursday.
The victory moved Sevilla even on points with third-place Atletico Madrid with four matches left. Third place guarantees an automatic spot in the Champions League next season, while the fourth-placed team has to go through a playoff.
Ben Yedder netted the winner from close range after a low cross by Samir Nasri in the 79th minute, beating a defender to the ball and hitting the top of the net with a right-footed shot.