GOOD NEWS: Leicester City gifted promotion opportunity but Enzo Maresca faces pressure

Leicester City’s promotion battle with Leeds and Ipswich took a completely

unjustified turn on Saturday.

Somehow, Leicester City manages to stay competitive in the race for promotion

from the Championship and an early return to the Premier League this year.

Amazingly,

the Foxes are in the top two spots after dropping their past two games,

one each to Plymouth Argyle and Millwall.

After Friday night’s awful performance against Plymouth, most of the 1,600 fans who travelled the nearly 500 miles were heckled by Enzo Maresca and his team.

It’s incomprehensible to outsiders that a team with 28 wins out of 42 games and 88 points is getting so much flak. For Leicester fans, the decline has been appalling.

For everyone to see, the writing has been on the wall. Maresca’s team has won just five of their last 12 league games, kept just one clean sheet in their previous ten Championship games, and have blown an astounding 72 great opportunities this season. This is all after beating Stoke City 5-0 at the beginning of February.

After the two identical losses to Millwall and Plymouth—deep blocks with the obvious intention of catching City on the counter—many, including me, had conceded that automatic promotion was no longer conceivable. But the outcomes on Saturday have given Leicester an unfair chance to seize control of the promotion battle.

Leeds United, who themselves have terrible results when things become tough,

lost 1-0 at home against Blackburn Rovers, who three days previously had thrashed 5-0 at Bristol City. Ipswich was unable to capitalise either, as they lost to Middlesbrough at Portman Road, extending their dismal week.

Leicester is still one point ahead of Leeds and one behind Ipswich in the top two,

for whatever reason. Their destiny still lies with them as they have three home

games left before the contest.

Hundreds of supporters now have doubts about this Leicester team after the performance and outcome at Home Park. Others have given up on Maresca after witnessing yet another instance of his total incapacity to alter games when

things are not going well. No backup plan in case things get hard.

But the head coach isn’t the only victim of the current circumstances. Although

eight of Plymouth’s starting eleven have experience playing in the Premier League,

they have consistently shown that they are unable of stepping up when it matters most.

“The Premier League is the main issue I have. Will he continue to play at a leisurely pace without a backup plan when opponents like Crystal Palace visit the King Power Stadium? Next season, Leicester won’t be able to afford to lose those games.”

The starting lineups for the match against West Brom on Saturday have already begun to take shape. Conor Coady needs to start and Patson Daka needs to be replaced at centre forward in order to make two changes.

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