Ruud van Nistelrooy has pledged Leicester City will fight to the end, despite their relegation from the Premier League being a near-certainty ahead of facing Newcastle United.
Leicester are 15 points adrift of 17th-placed Wolves after Vitor Pereira’s team beat Ipswich Town 2-1 on Saturday, a result that looks to have settled the relegation battle.
Southampton became the first team in Premier League history to be relegated with seven games of the season remaining on Sunday, and Leicester and Ipswich may not be far behind them.
Van Nistelrooy admitted after Wednesday’s 2-0 loss to Manchester City that Leicester’s relegation was inevitable, but he insists the Foxes will remain professional.
“We have to get up. It’s my responsibility to do my job the best I can for the last eight games,” he said.
“I don’t look further on. It’s hard enough to keep the spirits up and everyone together because it’s not going well. We are a team and we stick together. If we do that we have a chance of results.”
Asked how he is dealing with the responsibility of leading Leicester through a miserable campaign, he added: “It’s something that I feel I want to go through with the team, the squad and the staff.
“Stay together and stay connected. Fight through this as people. We need to give everything every day to get out of this.
“It is not something I want to walk away from. I want to fight every day. We will fight until the end.”
Newcastle, meanwhile, boosted their hopes of Champions League qualification with a 2-1 victory over Brentford last time out, and they subsequently saw rivals Nottingham Forest and Chelsea drop points.
The only negative for the Magpies was the sight of Alexander Isak going off with a knock. Howe says they must “wait and see” on the striker’s availability but has questioned the perception of the Swede being injury prone.
“Look at my record – I was very injury prone,” Howe said. “Alex certainly isn’t.
“He has a physio he uses in conjunction with the football club that will fly in and out. We back that and have a good relationship with that.
“It is about building relationships and trust so he knows we are doing right work for him and his body too.”
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Leicester City – Bobby De Cordova-Reid
Since De Cordova-Reid scored an equaliser in a 2-2 draw with Brighton in December, each of the last 18 Premier League goals at the King Power Stadium have been scored by the away side.
Only West Brom (22 in a row in December/January in 2020-21) have ever had a longer run of goals scored by the away side in home games, with the 22nd and final goal in that run scored by Cordova-Reid, when he played for Fulham.
Newcastle United – Alexander Isak
Isak has scored eight goals in his last six Premier League appearances against sides starting the day in the relegation zone, including five in his last two.
The Swede got a hat-trick versus Ipswich in December and a brace against Southampton in January. If he is passed fit, he is certain to cause Leicester problems.
MATCH PREDICTION – NEWCASTLE UNITED WIN
Leicester have lost 10 home Premier League games this season – in their league history, they have never lost 11 at home in a single campaign (also 10 defeats in 1913-14, 1977-78, 1994-95 and 2022-23).
Newcastle, meanwhile, have won seven away Premier League matches this season and could win eight or more on the road for a second time under Eddie Howe (also eight in 2022-23).
They had only done so three times before he joined the club (nine in 1993-94 under Kevin Keegan, nine in 2001-02 under Bobby Robson, eight in 2011-12 under Alan Pardew).
Leicester have lost each of their last seven home Premier League matches, failing to score in every one of those games.
In English top-flight history, the only side to go eight home games in a row without a goal were Manchester City between January and May 2007, who drew two and lost six of those games.
The Foxes could also become the first side in Football League history to lose eight home league games in a row without scoring a goal – Watford also lost seven in a row between December 1971 and March 1972.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Leicester City – 17.3%
Newcastle United – 60.4%
Draw – 22.3%
