Leicester City manager Ruud van Nistelrooy believes his side can still avoid relegation to the Championship – provided they can turn 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 ran out 2-0 winners at the King Power Stadium.
It was Leicester’s sixth league defeat and Van Nistelrooy failed to produce the impact the club had hoped for when he was appointed to replace the sacked Steve Cooper.
But the Dutchman has not given up hope, despite the club sitting 19th in the Premier League, two points from safety.
About our position in the league 🔵
“We desperately want to get out of this situation and we know that every game where we don’t collect points makes the situation more difficult. There are three or four teams very close to each other, it’s up to us to do that.” pic.twitter.com/RkNPjSISyT
— Leicester City (@LCFC) January 16, 2025
He said: “We’ve been talking about it for a while. The thing is to turn those good games into points and that’s the goal because we know where we are in the league. We know that only points can get us out of the situation.”
Next up is a home game with Fulham on Saturday afternoon.
Van Nistelrooy added: “We desperately want to get out of that situation by the end of May and we know that every game we don’t collect is a game lost and that makes it difficult.
“We also know that we are in a position with three or four teams very close together, they are also dropping points and that makes the situation still possible. But it’s up to us to start collecting, we’ve had enough of that [performance and no result].”
Van Nistelrooy hopes to add to the signing of Coulibaly
Leicester made their first January signing yesterday by bringing in full-back Woy Coulibaly from Parma for £3million.
However, the 25-year-old has not yet been able to train and may not be involved at the weekend.
Van Nistelrooy added: “He was unable to train with the team today as we are completing the paperwork. So we are waiting today, can he train with the team.
“Obviously we have to evaluate him and that’s one training session before the game. We’ll see if we can get him into the game on Saturday. I think it will be as much as possible.”
Van Nistelrooy hopes Coulibaly will be the first of several additions in the January window. He said: “We are working on it, every possibility we can add. Permanently and on loan as well, within the possibilities of the club. We needed an extra right back because of Ricardo’s injury [Pereira]. Hopefully we can add something more.”
