Leicester City boss Ruud van Nistelrooy believes his side can still escape relegation in the Championship – provided they can turn their good performances into points.
The Foxes played well in the first half against Crystal Palace last night, but the Londoners improved after the break and eventually secured a 2-0 victory at the King Power Stadium.
It was Leicester’s sixth consecutive league defeat, with Van Nistelrooy failing to make the impact the club had hoped for when they appointed him to replace the sacked Steve Cooper.
But the Dutchman has not given up hope, even though the club sit 19th in the Premier League, two points from safety.
On our position in the championship 🔵
“We desperately want to get out of this situation, and we know that every game where we don’t pick up points makes things more difficult. There are three or four teams very close together, it’s up to us to make that happen. pic.twitter.com/RkNPjSISyT
–Leicester City (@LCFC) January 16, 2025
He said: “We’ve been talking about it for a while now. It’s about scoring points with these good performances and that’s the objective because we know where we are in the championship. We know that only points can get us out of the situation.
Next up is a home game against Fulham on Saturday afternoon.
Van Nistelrooy added: “We desperately want to get out of this situation by the end of May and we know that every game we don’t collect, it’s a game lost and that makes things more difficult.
“We also know that we are in a position with three or four teams very close together, they are also losing points and that makes the situation still possible. But it’s up to us to start collecting, we’re tired of that [performance and no result].”
Van Nistelrooy hopes to add to Coulibaly signing
Leicester yesterday made their first signing of January by bringing in full-back Woyo Coulibaly from Parma for £3 million.
The 25-year-old, however, has not yet been able to train and may not be present this weekend.
Van Nistelrooy added: “Today he was unable to train with the team because we are finalizing the paperwork. So we are waiting today if he can train with the team.
“Obviously we have to evaluate it and it’s a training session before the game. We’ll see if we can get him involved in Saturday’s game. I think this will be the maximum possible.
Van Nistelrooy hopes Coulibaly will be the first of several additions in the January window. He said: “We are working on it, on all the possibilities we can add. Permanent and also on loan, within the limits of the club’s possibilities. We needed an extra right-back because of Ricardo’s injury. [Pereira]. I hope we can add more.
