Leicester City break yet another unwanted Premier League record with Ruud van Nistelrooy – it’s a new low

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It will take a miracle for Leicester City to avoid relegation from the Premier League this season.

With the club 12 points from safety with just eight games remaining, most Foxes fans are resigned to an immediate return to the Championship.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
17	WolvesWolves	30	8	5	17	41	58	-17	29
18	IpswichIpswich	30	4	8	18	30	63	-33	20
19	LeicesterLeicester	30	4	5	21	25	67	-42	17
20	SouthamptonSouthampton	30	2	4	24	22	71	-49	10

While not yet mathematically impossible, form under Ruud van Nistelrooy provides little hope.

Leicester’s 2-0 defeat to Manchester City on Wednesday was another insipid display, the Dutchman seemingly setting his team up to ensure damage limitation rather than attacking the game to try and get something out of it.

And the result has led to another unwanted record-breaking stat that epitomises Leicester’s struggles.

Leicester City break Premier League record for conceding first

In allowing Jack Grealish to score just two minutes into the game at the Etihad, Leicester took their record of conceding the first goal in the Premier League this season to 25 games.

As reported by TNT Sports, the previous record was set by Ipswich Town in the 1994/95 season, the Tractor Boys conceding first in 24 of their games that campaign.

It should be noted that while poor, Ipswich’s record that year came in a 42-game season. By comparison, Leicester’s 25-game record has come from just 30 Premier League fixtures.

It also wasn’t the only record van Nistelrooy broke on Wednesday night.

The defeat to Manchester City was the Foxes’ seventh on the spin, the second time this season they have endured such a run under the Dutchman.

Indeed, van Nistelrooy overseeing two consecutive seven-game defeats in the same season means he is the first manager since Freddie Cox with Portsmouth in 1958-59 to endure such a run, a 65-year record.

The five games Leicester City have scored first in this season

There have nonetheless been five Premier League games this campaign in which the Foxes have scored first.

Two of these came under Steve Cooper: Leicester’s 2-2 draw at Crystal Palace in September and the 1-0 win against Bournemouth in October.

Incredibly, the 1-0 win against Bournemouth is Leicester’s only Premier League clean sheet all season, emphasising how damaging conceding first has been to the club’s campaign.

The third instance came in the 4-1 away defeat against Brentford at the end of November, Facundo Buonannotte scoring first before the Bees put the Foxes to the sword as van Nistelrooy watched from the stands before taking over as Leicester manager.

The final two games in which Leicester scored first this season were the 3-1 against West Ham, van Nistelrooy’s first game in charge at the King Power Stadium, and the 3-1 defeat to Liverpool.

With both of these games coming in December 2024, it means that Leicester have not scored first in the Premier League in a single game this calendar year.

With tough fixtures against Newcastle, Brighton and Liverpool to come in Leicester’s next three, that run is likely to continue.