DARK CLOUDS GATHER WITH CITY ON BRINK
TIME RUNNING OUT AFTER ANOTHER DEFEAT
LEICESTER City’s season-long failings came back to haunt them again last night as Liverpool prised the relegation trapdoor open a little wider.
After holding their own for the first half-hour, City’s defensive fragility was again exposed for all to see as a quickfire double by Curtis Jones put the visitors 2-0 up after 36 minutes.
Both were close VAR calls for offsides, but the green lines on the TV screens confirmed the usual story for City, who have now conceded first in an astonishing 18 out of the past 19 league games.
City also need to go back to
November 12 for the last time they kept a clean sheet, in the 2-0 win at West Ham.
The defeat left City second bottom, two points from safety with two games to play, with a tough trip to Champions League hopefuls Newcastle next up before the season finale at home to West Ham.
Last night City were outplayed, with Liverpool raining in 16 shots to four, and it was somewhat of a relief that only one more found the net, a stunner by Trent Alexander-Arnold
midway through the second half.
City’s cause was not helped by a hamstring injury to centre-half Caglar Soyuncu, an impressive ever-present since Dean Smith took charge.
It meant club skipper Jonny Evans was drafted back into the starting line-up for the first time since before the World Cup, having been out with calf and thigh troubles and then a hamstring injury.
Danny Ward and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall
were also missing from the squad. Ward, the substitute goalkeeper, has dislocated a finger, while midfielder DewsburyHall has sustained an ankle injury.
The injury will keep Soyuncu out of next Monday’s trip to St James’ Park too, but City are hopeful that he will be available for the West Ham clash - when they will also be hoping they still stand a chance of escaping the drop to the Championship.
No timelines have been set on the other two injuries.