Leicester are losing the plot...

Maresca calls for calm after third straight loss

WHAT looked like just a blip for Leicester is developing into something more serious.

A third consecutive league defeat has left the Championship leaders anxiously glancing over their shoulder when a Premier League return had looked a mere formality.

Cheered when Leeds dropped a couple of points at lunchtime, Enzo Maresca’s side failed to capitalise after an off-colour performance and now Ipswich are breathing down their necks.

‘I don’t think there’s a feeling of being nervous, I don’t have this feeling from the players,’ said Maresca on the title race.

‘It’s already been a long time with everybody chasing us. With 11 games to go, we need to finish in the best way.

‘When you drop points and the rest win, you see they are coming but we need balance in this moment. You cannot be so happy or so sad, you just have to win games.

‘If you get too nervous it could be dangerous, if you relax, it could be dangerous. You have to be mentally strong because we have a game in three days.’

For Queens Park Rangers, goals by Ilias Chair and Sinclair Armstrong earned an unexpected win that lifted them to 19th, albeit outside the bottom three on goal difference alone.

Chair has a prison sentence for assault hanging over him in Belgium but continues to make decisive interventions in his team’s relegation fight. Leicester dominated as they usually do — with the possession needle oscillating between the 70 and 80 per cent mark — but QPR hit them on the break six minutes before half-time.

Chris Willock broke clear down the right and slipped a nice through pass into Lyndon Dykes, whose low ball was turned home by Chair on the slide.

That lead doubled after the break when Armstrong, with his first touch, slammed home after Sam Field laid the ball to him following a free-kick routine.

Ben Nelson, with his first senior goal, gave Leicester hope not long afterwards, guiding a shot home off the inside of the post after Asmir Begovic pushed out Kieran Dewsbury-Hall’s free-kick.

‘We performed at a really good level against a team that is extremely good. But to get out and achieve this great escape, there is still lots more to be done,’ said QPR boss Marti Cifuentes.

‘I’m not sure it was our best performance but we had to perform at a very high level against a very good side and I’m sure they’ll go up.’