LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 1: Ruud van Nistelrooy manager / head coach of Leicester City during the Premier League match between Everton FC and Leicester City FC at Goodison Park on February 1, 2025 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images)
Leicester City’s relegation battle laid bare as points tally claim made, Ruud Van Nistelrooy is in trouble
Time is running out for Leicester City to secure their top flight status.
It’s been a horrible run of late for the Foxes, who have won two Premier League games since Ruud van Nistelrooy’s appointment in November.
At the time of writing, Leicester are 18th in the table and two points behind Wolves.
It looks as if it will be between Ipswich Town, Leicester and the aforementioned Wolves for that 17th spot and with only 14 games of the season remaining, the room for error continues to shrink.
The magic number for survival has always been 40 points but that average has dropped down in recent years following a number of close-fought relegation battles.
But how many will the Foxes need to ensure they don’t go down?
Leicester City will need to win six of their last 14 games
Recent years have seen the average number of points required for survival drop down.
As per The Athletic, the average points total for sides finishing 18th across the last 23 seasons was 35.6.
Last season, that tally dropped to 34 – helped largely by the 2023/24 campaign when Luton Town finished on 26 points.
As it stands, the Foxes are on course to pick up another 10 points for the remainder of the season after averaging 0.7 per game this season.
27 points will almost certainly not be enough and with a tough run to come in their next six games compared to their relegation rivals, there cannot be any slip ups.
It’s likely that Van Nistelrooy’s side will need to win six of their remaining 14 games – something they have failed to do from 24 games – or draw five and win three to give themselves the best shot of survival.
That would give them a grand total of 35 points. They do face all three sides around them in their final five fixtures and that could be the turning point as in comparison to Wolves and Ipswich, their current fixture list looks far more difficult.
What’s the highest number of points a Premier League team has been relegated with?
It’s very rare that a team has needed more than 40 points to avoid relegation, but it has happened on two occasions.
In the inaugural Premier League season back in 1992/93, Crystal Palace were relegated with 49 points, but, there were more teams in the top flight at that time.
Since it was reduced to 20, West Ham United’s relegation with 42 points is the highest a side has ever gone down with.
On the other hand, the 2023/24 campaign would’ve required a side to only reach 27 points to stay up.
