Top-flight safety for 2015/16 Premier League champions Leicester City seems in serious doubt.
The Foxes technically control their own destiny with two matches remaining in the campaign, but the task is monstrous as they stare down games against Newcastle and West Ham.
It’s a sorry state for a team that not a decade ago shocked the world with the most improbable title triumph in English top-flight history.
Now, they are in real trouble of being consigned to a place in the Championship next season, forced to face a summer of uncertainty with players likely to come and go en masse. The Sporting News brings you a full look at what Leicester need to remain afloat in the Premier League for at least another season.
MORE: Leeds United relegation odds, and what they need to stay up
Odds for Leicester City relegation
With Southampton the only team already certain of the drop, three other clubs remain at risk and there are two spots to fill.
Everton seem the safest as they have the points on the board — two more than Leeds and three more than the Foxes, who have a game in hand —but the situation is complicated by them having an inferior goal difference to Leicester to the tune of six goals.
However, should Leicester fail to beat Newcastle in what is their game in hand, Everton would know that a final-day win over Bournemouth would guarantee their safety at the expense of their relegation rivals.
Premier League table: The bottom four
*Standings correct as of Sunday, May 21, 2023. Relegation probability via FiveThirtyEight.
| Pos | Team | Points | Matches Played |
Goals Scored |
Goal Difference |
Next Match | Relegation probability |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17. | Everton | 33 | 37 | 33 | -24 | vs. BOU, May 28 | 24% |
| 18. | Leeds United | 31 | 37 | 47 | -27 | vs. TOT, May 28 | 92% |
| 19. | Leicester City | 30 | 36 | 49 | -18 | @ NEW, May 22 | 84% |
| 20. | Southampton – R | 24 | 37 | 32 | -37 | vs. LIV, May 28 | — |
Premier League latest relegation odds 2022/23
Here are the latest relegation odds available at the various sports books around the world.
Odds current as of Sunday, May 21.
| USA (BetMGM) |
UK (Sky Bet) |
Australia (Neds) |
|
| Leeds United | -275 | 2/5 | 1.36 |
| Everton | +300 | 3/1 | 4.00 |
| Nott’m Forest | +240 | 11/4 | 3.40 |
| Leicester City | -700 | 1/8 | 1.14 |
What do Leicester City need to stay up?
Leicester must jump ahead of both Leeds and Everton in order to survive. There are various combinations of results that might secure that outcome, but their best hope is to win both matches.
If the Foxes do take the remaining six points on offer, it would leave Everton needing a frankly unrealistic margin of victory over Bournemouth to deny them. If they fail to win their final two games, they will need help from elsewhere.
As a minimum, Leicester must win at least one of their remaining matches. Doing that, and losing the other, would mean they need Everton to lose and Leeds to drop points.