Leicester City fell to their fifth straight Premier League defeat after losing 2-1 against Aston Villa.
The Foxes went into this contest in 19th position and knew a win would take them out of the relegation zone.
In a contest that lacked quality action for most of it, Leicester looked as though they’d snatch a point when Stephy Mavididi cancelled out Ross Barkley’s opener.
However, a mistake from James Justin, who carelessly gave the ball away, allowed Leon Bailey to finish from close range after being teed up by Ian Maatsen.
As a result, Leicester equalled an abysmal 22-year record against Villa, losing five games in a row while conceding two goals for the first time since September/October 2003.
It wasn’t the only disappointing news to emerge after the game, though, as Ruud van Nistelrooy was forced into substituting Jannik Vestergaard.
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Ruud van Nistelrooy confirms Jannik Vestergaard injury after Aston Villa
Vestergaard started his 11th game of the campaign against Villa, with the towering Dane continuing to partner Conor Coady at the back.
The 32-year-old put in a decent display while he was on the pitch, winning 100% of his ground duels and aerials.
This was before his afternoon was cut short as he was replaced by Wout Faes in the 62nd minute of the match with a suspected injury.
Leicester fans will have feared the worst when he was taken off and now van Nistelrooy has supplied an update on the Denmark international post-match.
Speaking in his interview, via BBC Sport, the Dutch manager said: “Have to assess what happened, could have been a knock or minor muscle injury will have to see later in the week.”
Fortunately, the managers’ comments suggest the issue doesn’t sound serious but if Vestergaard is set to miss some games, Leicester must act in the transfer market.
Leicester City’s defence isn’t good enough
Leicester’s current centre-back options of Vestergaard, Caleb Okoli, Faes and Coady aren’t good enough to drag the Foxes to safety.
Admittedly, they looked more solid in the defeat to Villa but they still conceded twice, with silly errors costing their side a chance of a point or all three.
Luckily, van Nistelrooy is eyeing some defensive transfers in the window and they must be different in profile to their current crop.
Van Nistelrooy needs a versatile defender who is comfortable on the ball and possesses recovery pace in abundance.
Leicester target Ben Godfrey ticked those boxes however, Ipswich Town are closing in on a loan deal for Godfrey.
Although it’s disappointing to potentially lose out on a target to a relegation rival, it reinforces what everyone knows – they need to sign a centre-back and full-back to climb away from danger, otherwise, it could be too big of a mountain to climb.