Leicester City Premier League survival chances predicted by supercomputer after West Ham loss

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Leicester City fell to yet another defeat on Thursday evening against West Ham United.

Ruud van Nistelrooy began his reign as Leicester City manager by beating the Hammers 3-1 on December 3rd.

However, apart from a 2-2 draw with Brighton and Hove Albion and victory over Tottenham Hotspur, the Dutchman has lost all of his remaining fixtures as manager of the Foxes.

Leicester fans want Van Nistelrooy to be sacked but it seems at this stage that no matter who comes in to replace him, relegation is very likely.

At present, the former Premier League champions are 19th in the table and now in a three-horse race for survival with Wolverhampton Wanderers and Ipswich Town.

Currently, it’s Wolves who look most likely to clinch that all-important 17th spot to keep their position in the top flight.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
16	EvertonEverton	27	7	11	9	30	34	-4	32
17	WolvesWolves	27	6	4	17	37	56	-19	22
18	IpswichIpswich	27	3	8	16	26	57	-31	17
19	LeicesterLeicester	27	4	5	18	25	61	-36	17
20	SouthamptonSouthampton	27	2	3	22	19	65	-46	9

• READ MORE: Ruud van Nistelrooy sacked, Leicester City owner finally speaks out and more harrowing predictions for March

Opta predict Leicester City Premier League finish

Leicester have two tough fixtures to play out in March, and it seems very improbable they will win them to overtake Wolves.

In turn, Opta’s latest Premier League table prediction will not make for particularly surprising reading.

Using their supercomputer, Opta ran 10,000 simulations, all of which had the current bottom four going down.

However, Wolves only went down in 5.8 percent of the simulations, whereas Southampton were relegated in every single one.

As for Leicester, they slump back down to the second tier of English football in 97.6 percent of the tests ran by Opta.

• READ MORE: Leicester City owner confirmed he sacked manager to ‘protect our Premier League status’ – it was a huge mistake

Ruud van Nistelrooy explains how Leicester City can improve

There’s still plenty of points to play for this season but most fans will agree the season is done.

However, as per BBC Sport, Van Nistelrooy was quizzed on what his team need to do to improve post-West Ham.

And he said: “We need to push forward and play with some courage. We need to not be afraid to make mistakes but I understand that the confidence levels are very low. That showed in the first half. We get so passive because of that and we were not in the game. At least in the second half we went for it and created some opportunities.

“Players look for safety by going backwards, not forwards. At least in the second half, they showed what they were capable of that. That’s the way forward.

“In the right moments, we put the opponent under pressure and took initiative in the game. That’s the way we have to continue.

“We have to approach the games with initiative and not be afraid to lose. That was the difference between the first and second half. Confidence is a big part of this.”