Pressure bears down on Leicester. Above them, Premier League officials wish to examine their finances for the 2022-23 season. Should they be promoted, a points deduction beckons. Should they remain in the Football League, then similar censure awaits.
A rock and a hard place, limbo, a situation relying on an expensive legal team. Can their actual football team, not exactly short on expensive talent – that being part of the legal problem – be relied upon? The evidence grows to the contrary after defeat at Ashton Gate to Anis Mehmeti’s winning strike. Bristol City took advantage of a litany of missed Leicester chances, Jamie Vardy the most guilty party.
Four points from six matches has surrendered command of the Championship. Ipswich and Leeds have surged just as the longtime leaders lose confidence, rhythm and their nerve in front of goal.
“The pressure comes at the end of the season,” said Leicester’s manager, Enzo Maresca. “The table is so close. It’s normal to feel pressure.”
Fans of Bristol City have been resigned to another season in the doldrums. Their former manager Nigel Pearson, sacked in October, is lamented by a contingent for whom Liam Manning has failed to impress. An win, seized by a great goal and then seen out with very few further scares, can allay a few doubts for now.
“I try to stay consistent, the margins are so tough in this division,” said Manning. His team began with a zest that unsettled ponderous Leicester. “I though the first 20 was excellent,” said Manning. “It created an energy and a buzz around the place.”
The away fans were full of Good Friday cheer, except for when taking the EFL’s name in vain, but their team were struggling to control possession in the deep buildup fashion Maresca prescribes. Until Leicester’s springtime blip, that style was taking the division by storm.
But not at Ashton Gate with Mads Hermansen asked to make an early double save from Tommy Conway and Scott Twine. By then, Jason Knight had already made a couple of bursts from deep midfield. Wout Faes, with a trademark lapse of concentration, also might have conceded a penalty when tugging back Conway.
There remains fight in Vardy. The movement is still decent but the misses stacked up painfully. He missed Leicester’s best chance of the half after Stephy Mavididi’s pass. Vardy remains useful on the counter, too, and when the danger was cleared from some trickery by Mehmeti, the 37-year-old led a furious charge to the other end but eventually powered his effort wide.
Leicester’s perennial main man – away fans asking for 10 more years – might have broken the deadlock at the start of the second half, linking with Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, but found himself unable to beat Max O’Leary. The away team were definitely stepping up, looking for the goal that could buy relief before Monday’s home game with Norwich, with Leeds and Ipswich playing later on Friday.
“Today we showed the performance was there, the amount of chances we created,” said Maresca, attempting calm amid the storm. “You can be worried by something outside of football when the performance is not there.”
There were visible nerves, Faes and Abdul Fatawu getting in a terrible mess and Conway stealing away, only for an offside flag to save them. Then Vardy missed his biggest chance, laid up by an inexplicable back pass from Zak Vyner. O’Leary made a superb block. “This can happen,” said Maresca. “Jamie doesn’t need to apologise, he has given us so many goals this season and in the club’s history.”
As Leicester flailed away, the home team grew in confidence. With Leicester heads beginning to sag, Mehmeti struck, checking back after Ross McCrorie’s pass and buying the space to crash a left-foot shot home. “The intensity was there today,” said O’Leary, without whose excellent goalkeeping such a winner would not have been possible.
As Bristol City celebrated, Vardy departed the scene, Kelechi Iheanacho arriving amid a torrential hailstorm. His first act was to get the ball in the net, only for a flag to rule him offside. Another chance gone, another game lost, a further example of Leicester failing to live with the pressure of their situation.
