Leicester City are in a serious relegation fight and it doesn't look good
Leicester City are the Premier League champions. They are also in very real danger of being relegated.
After getting thumped by Manchester United, 3-0, at home on Sunday, the Foxes find themselves on just 21 points. That's only one-point clear of 18th place Hull City, a team that has managed two results against top six teams in the last week and have completely turned things around since hiring Marco Silva. Separating Leicester and Hull is Swansea, another team that has been miles better since changing managers and nearly got a point out of Manchester City earlier in the day.
Not only are Leicester on the brink of the relegation zone, but the teams below them are in much better form. That means it's time to panic.
And when Leicester looks at those teams, they have to wonder if they should make a manager change, too. After all, it's worked for Hull and Swansea.
Firing Claudio Ranieri seems ridiculous. He was the 2016 FIFA Manager of the Year and is nine months removed from a championship. What the Italian did with the Foxes last season is one of the best managerial jobs ever. But it is not last season and all Leicester should be interested in right now is staying in the Premier League. The club may point to the Champions League as a priority right now, and being in the knockout stages is a big deal, but it won't mean much if they go down.
If Leicester are relegated, they will make history. No team has ever gone down a year after winning the title in the Premier League era. In the entire history of English top flight soccer, it's only happened once, and that was Manchester City more than 80 years ago.
That is what Leicester are facing now.
Is firing Ranieri the answer? Do they just need to wake Riyad Mahrez up again? How about Jamie Vardy, now scoreless in 23 of his last 34 matches? Is it simply sticking with the 4-4-2 that served them so well instead of tinkering, like Ranieri has insisted?
Or maybe Leicester really are just bad and there is no answer.
Whatever the Foxes' future is, it's clear that it involves a relegation fight. They're in it now and they're going to have to do deal with it while also balancing the Champions League.
If Leicester don't figure things out soon, we might not just be talking about relegation either. They're only two points clear of the bottom of the table, and that might be in play soon too. It's time for Leicester to sort things out, or they'll go from champions to the Championship.
