Leicester City coach Ruud van Nistelrooy believes his side can still escape 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 London side improved after the break and, in the end, cruised to a 2-0 win at the King Power Stadium.
This was Leicester's sixth consecutive league defeat, with Van Nistelrooy not making the impact the club had hoped for when he was appointed to replace the sacked Steve Cooper.
But the Dutchman did not lose hope, despite the club occupying nineteenth place in the English Premier League, two points behind the safety zone.
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 pick up points makes it more difficult. There are three or four teams that are very close to each other, and it's up to us to make that happen. pic.twitter.com/RkNPjSISyT
– Leicester City (@LCFC) January 16, 2025
“We talked about it a while ago,” he said. It's a matter of getting those good performances on points, that's the goal because we know where we are in the league. We know that only points can get us out of this situation.”
Next up is a home game with Fulham on Saturday afternoon.
Van Nistelrooy added: “We desperately want to be out of this situation by the end of May and we know that every game we don't put together is one game over, and that makes it more difficult.
“We also know that we are in a situation where there are three or four teams that are very close to each other and they are also losing points and that makes the situation still possible. But it is up to us to start raising money, we are tired of it (performance and lack of result).”
Van Nistelrooy is hoping to add to Koulibaly's signing
Leicester City made their first signing of January yesterday by signing full-back Wouyou Koulibaly from Parma for £3m.
However, the 25-year-old has not been able to train yet and may not be sent out on the weekend.
Van Nistelrooy added: “Today he was not able to train with the team because we finalized the papers. So today we are waiting to see if he can train with the team.”
“Obviously we have to evaluate him and it is one training session before the match. We will see if we can play him in Saturday's match. I think that will be the maximum possible.”
Van Nistelrooy is hoping Koulibaly will be the first of several additions in the January window. “We are working on it, on every possibility we can add,” he said. Permanent and loan also, within the club's possibility. We needed an extra right-back because of Ricardo (Pereira)'s injury. Hopefully we can add more.”
