The stage was set for a spirited Leicester City performance. A Monday night under the lights at the King Power Stadium, an opponent the Foxes had beaten in the last two seasons, and a chance to leap out of the relegation zone and set themselves up as the frontrunners in the battle for Premier League safety.
Liverpool arrived in a rich vein of form, but their record away from home this season has been distinctly average, and they are a team who will give up chances if you put them under pressure.
Sadly for Leicester’s supporters, Dean Smith’s side failed to put Liverpool under any pressure whatsoever. Jurgen Klopp’s side came to the King Power and strolled around is if it was a kickabout in their own back garden. A quickfire first-half double from Curtis Jones killed the raucous atmosphere, before Trent Alexander-Arnold’s superb strike added gloss to a consummate Liverpool performance.
The disappointment for Leicester is that they failed to get out of first gear, which indeed tells the tale of their entire season. A lack of investment in the playing squad last summer allowed this once great team, who only two years ago laid hands on the FA Cup, to stagnate and decay. Now, the Premier League relegation odds don’t make for good reading.
Brendan Rodgers was unable to reverse fortunes at the King Power, and it became clear that the Northern Irishman had become frustrated with the club’s lack of progress off the pitch. The pandemic hit Leicester’s owners hard, and they have had to cut back in the transfer market as a result.
Rodgers was eventually shown the door as results failed to improve as the season went on, but many wondered whether Smith was the right choice for his replacement. The former Walsall, Aston Villa and Norwich City boss does not exactly have a track record of saving Premier League clubs from relegation, and despite a few bright moments, it’s fair to say that Smith has been unable to get Leicester playing to their full potential.
If the Foxes do manage to survive, it will be a massive relief for all involved, but that is looking less and less likely as the number of remaining matches quickly evaporates. Relegation would be a hammer blow for a club that have enjoyed so much success in recent times – from the Premier League title in 2016 and reaching the quarter-finals of the Champions League the following season, to battles for European places and that superb FA Cup final triumph over Chelsea. It would be the undoing of a decade of progress.
That is what was at stake when Smith took the reins, and perhaps it’s understandable that the pressure has weighed so heavily. In many ways, he has been handed a poisoned chalice – as it appears many of Leicester’s players have accepted their fate.
The meek performance against Liverpool summed up everything that has gone wrong for Leicester this season, and it’s going to take an almighty turnaround to ensure this miserable campaign has a happy ending.
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