Leicester City have been issued a strong warning by Leeds United new boss

Latest Leicester City news as new Leeds United boss Sam Allardyce compares himself to Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, and Arsenal chief Mikel Arteta in his first press conference

Leicester City has been issued a strong warning by new Leeds United boss Sam Allardyce.

The 68-year-old has taken on the ninth Premier League club of his career, stepping back into management for the first time since leaving West Bromwich Albion in 2021. Allardyce has four games to maintain Leeds’ top-flight status, with a dismal run of recent results leaving the club in 17th and outside the bottom three on goal difference.

Leicester City managed to climb out of the bottom three on Monday night, following their draw with Everton on Monday night, with the bottom five teams separated by six points. However, Allardyce feels he is more than capable of keeping Leeds up, comparing himself to leading coaches Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp, and Mikel Arteta in his opening press conference

“People think I’m old and antiquated. It’s so far from the truth,’ Allardyce said. “There is no one ahead of me in football terms – not Pep, not Klopp, not Arteta. They do what they do, I do what I do.

“But in terms of depth of knowledge, I am up there with them. I am not saying I am better than them, but I am as good as them.”

Allardyce admitted that he was surprised to get a call from the Leeds hierarchy this late in the campaign, with the club bringing an end to Javi Gracia’s shot spell in charge. A trip to Manchester City awaits in his first game on Saturday before Leeds’ final three fixtures against Newcastle, West Ham, and Tottenham Hotspur.

“I know it (Leeds) is in a lot of trouble,” Allardyce told talkSPORT. “I have seen a lot of trouble before and – I could have done with a little bit more time, but four games – hopefully we can make a difference and keep this fabulous club in the Premier League.

“(I was) shocked (to get the opportunity), I never thought at this stage of the season there would be jobs offered.

“When the phone popped up with a name that I knew pretty well, I knew who it was straight away, so it took me about two seconds to say yes.”

READ MORE:

Leicester City is ahead of Leeds and Nottingham Forest on goal difference, and ahead of Everton by a single point, ahead of the final four matches of the season

Leicester City’s failure to beat Leeds or Everton led a section of supporters to declare their team deserved to go down. City was given the perfect two games to prove they were worthy of staying in the Premier League and didn’t win either of them.

Throw in the fact that both Southampton and Bournemouth have done the double over them and that they’ve lost the most points from winning positions, and evidence of how poor City has been starting to add up.

But this ignores an often overlooked but consistent truth about the Premier League: bad teams survive every year. There is enough disorganization, dodgy recruitment, shoddy tactics, and poor performances across the division that, every season, there will be a couple of clubs who keep their heads above water because they’re not quite as rubbish as those below them.

It’s not the case that City have been fortunate to be where they are right now. Broadly, they have won the games they deserved to win and lost the ones they deserved to lose. There have been no great injustices, where a contentious decision has cost them, nor have there been any smash-and-grabs, where they’ve relied on the opposition missing chances and then scored from their only opportunity.

But it’s not a surprise that many fans feel the inability to get three points against Everton has blown the club’s chance of survival because they have lost the one advantage they had over their rivals.

Assessing the scene during the March international break, of the nine teams then in the battle, it was City, Bournemouth, and Crystal Palace that had the best fixtures on paper. The latter two made the most of theirs and are now safe with four games to spare. The city is well in the thick of it.

Since March, they have played Palace, Bournemouth, Wolves, Leeds, and Everton and earned five points from a possible 15. Now, their fixture list, based on the average position of their opponents, is no better or worse than the others at the bottom.

But maybe those six-pointers weren’t ideal fixtures. In each of those games, the opposition was also fighting hard for survival. The best opponents, maybe, are those who don’t have anything to play for.

And so there is still hope for City. Monday’s trip to Fulham actually represents a brilliant opportunity for three points. The Cottagers are the archetypal mid-table club. They are safe from relegation but out of the European race, and don’t have any cup competitions they need to be in form for. If anyone is coasting to the end of the season, it is them.

In fact, they have collected just six points over the past eight games, as many as City have. They also have Aleksandar Mitrovic suspended and now Andreas Pereira and Tim Ream are injured.

Obviously, it’s not a gimme. They have beaten Leeds and Everton recently and Man City didn’t exactly coast to victory against them at the weekend, but it looks a very promising fixture.

Then comes Liverpool at home. This season, Jurgen Klopp’s side have drawn or lost 12 of their 17 away fixtures, and by May 15, their slim Champions League hopes may be in the dust. Newcastle, on the other hand, may have already secured their top-four spot when City takes a trip to the northeast.

On the final day, West Ham are the visitors. They are likely to be mathematically safe by then, and may have a Europa Conference League final to think about, should they get through their semi-final double header with AZ Alkmaar. They’re not going to want to pick up injuries.

Winning two of their four games should be enough for City. If they do that, then at least two of Forest, Everton, and Leeds have to, given the gulf in goal difference, go undefeated in three of their final four matches.

Forest looks most likely to do that, given they have struggling Southampton, a dreadfully out-of-form Chelsea, and safe-as-houses Palace to play, as well as a home match with Arsenal. Everton has Europe-chasing Brighton and title-chasing Man City before finishing against Wolves and Bournemouth. Leeds have a tough couple of games against Man City and Newcastle before taking on West Ham and then a misfiring Tottenham.