Look away now Leicester fans, your season could take a shocking turn

It’s something we wrote about way back in early November, but if Leicester City didn’t think they were in a relegation fight, they need only look at the Premier League table.

Hypothetically, the reigning Premier League champions could find themselves in the bottom three come close of play this weekend.

And they’ll have it all to do if they’re to turn their season around before May.

At 5/1, the east Midlands outfit are now the shortest price they’ve been this season to face the drop.

That came as a result of their defeat against Burnley last night, and the odds are suggesting Claudio Ranieri could pay the price.

The Italian boss was 25/1 in the Premier League Sack Race at the start of the season. Since then his price has continued to fall, and it’s now only 7/2 for him to face the chop next.

That makes him second-favourite in that market, and it’s something plenty of punters are envisaging.

Of course, if that happened, Ranieri would remarkably be the second manager in successive seasons to win the title and be given his marching orders less than 12 months later.

Just two wins from 14 league games is the kind of form that’ll see any manager come under scrutiny – regardless of whether or not you steered 5000/1 outsiders to Premier League glory less than a year ago.

The idea of Leicester plying their trade in the Championship was simply unfathomable back in the summer, but it’s becoming more and more of a realistic scenario.

And it’s one which will concern not only fans, but board members too.

Remember, this is a side which rewarded the likes of Kasper Schmeichel, Riyad Mahrez and Jamie Vardy with six-figure contracts in the summer – not to mention the £77m invested in strengthening the squad in the last two transfer windows.

As far as the world of football is concerned, a Leicester City relegation would almost be as shocking as their title win. Financially, we’re looking at a potential horror story.

And with sides below them picking up points at a dangerously alarming rate, the Foxes will have to act quick if they’re to rediscover even a fraction of the kind of form that saw them lose just three of their 38 fixtures last campaign.

They’ve already equalled that tally in 2017 though – so things are unlikely to change any time soon.

So how do they stop the rot? Do they really need a change of manager? A change of style?

Or is it too late?

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing