Leicester City’s recent drop-off is a real concern, as they were beaten 2-1 by Queens Park Rangers on Saturday.
It’s the third defeat in a row for The Foxes in the Championship and their lead at the summit of the table has been cut to three points.
Enzo Maresca was without Ricardo Pereira in the defeat and looks set to lose him until after the international break.
City lacked a real cutting-edge and steeliness at King Power Stadium on Saturday and many fell way below their usual standard.
But Abdul Fatawu sent out a heartfelt message following the defeat and noted that City ‘won’t quit’.
Abdul Fatawu issues rallying call following Leicester’s defeat to QPR
Fatawu, despite turning just 19 earlier this month, has enjoyed a marvellous campaign with the East Midlands and is maturing into a top-class winger.
Following Saturday’s defeat, the Ghana international took to Instagram, saying: “Painful defeat today, this is hard to take but we are not stopping and we won’t quit until the end. Thank you all for your support foxes.”
Fatawu in the multi-post used an image of the Leicester City tunnel which reads: “Foxes Never Quit.”
They’ll have to ensure that is the case as they head into the final 11 games of the season, with Ipswich Town, Leeds United and Southampton on their tails.
Leicester must return to winning ways against Sunderland
Maresca’s team have a quick turnaround to the next game, which is often welcome after a defeat.
The Italian head coach will be eager to get back to winning ways and rebuild the confidence and momentum as we begin to enter the run-in.
City travel to the North East to face Sunderland at the Stadium of Light in what will be the first of four successive away games.
Whilst that prospect may be daunting to many teams, for Leicester it’s perhaps the complete opposite. The East Midlands club have the best away record in the Championship, taking 38 points from a possible 51.
So, many will expect City to get back into the win column, though, they face somewhat of an injury crisis to midfield.
With Pereira, Dennis Praet and Kasey McAteer all anticipated to be unavailable, Maresca has just three midfielders to call upon.
Everpresent Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Harry Winks will almost certainly start whilst it seems City have no choice but to play Yunus Akgun.
The left-footed playmaker has endured a pretty tough debut season with The Foxes and was subbed off on Saturday after replacing Praet in the first half.
So it seems Maresca doesn’t really fancy him, in truth, but anyhow, he’ll have to place his trust in him for the foreseeable future.