Leicestershire

BBC East Midlands Today previews Leicester City's crucial trip to Championship relegation rivals Portsmouth.

It is a must win game for a side that famously won the Premier League title 10 years ago, with defeat at Fratton Park putting the Foxes in danger of dropping into League One by Tuesday.

Leicester boss Gary Rowett said his side "has to fight and have pride" as they attempt to prolong their battle for survival.

Leicester City fans, as well as The Athletic's Rob Tanner, also share their thoughts on the club's astonishing fall in recent years.

You can read more from Rowett and the club's battle to beat the drop here.

Manager Gary Rowett says the "urgency" of Leicester City's fight to avoid relegation is clear to everyone.

The Foxes are five points adrift of safety with four games remaining, and travel to relegation rivals Portsmouth on Saturday.

If beaten at Fratton Park, Leicester City could be relegated as early as Tuesday if results elsewhere also go against them.

"It still comes down to doing the right things in games to win games," he told BBC Radio Leicester.

"We haven't done what we need to do, therefore we are in a position that we don't want to be in. The only thing we can do is concentrate on winning the next game or doing everything you can to win the next game.

"We are running out of games, we know that and we understand the urgency of the situation.

"If other teams around us are winning their games, then good for them because they are doing their job. We can't reply on other people."

You can listen to more of what Rowett had to say to BBC Radio Leicester in the build-up to Saturday's crucial trip to Portsmouth on the latest edition of When You're Smiling podcast.

Portsmouth head into this clash having further boosted their Championship survival hopes with an impressive 2-0 win over Ipswich on Tuesday.

That victory meant Pompey moved four points clear of the relegation zone and stretched their unbeaten run to four games with a chance of making it three wins on the bounce here.

Second-bottom Leicester will be desperate for a win after last Saturday's 1-0 defeat by Swansea.

No wins in five means the Foxes are five points from safety before their trip to Fratton Park, making this a massive game for Gary Rowett's side if they are to stand any chance of avoiding relegation.

• Portsmouth are unbeaten in their past five league games against Leicester (W2 D3), with each of the last three all finishing 1-1.

• This is Leicester's first away league game against Portsmouth since a 1-1 draw in November 2011. Their previous visit prior to that draw was a 6-1 defeat.

• Portsmouth have lost their past two home league games on a Saturday, both by the same scoreline (1-0 v Sheffield United and Hull). They have not lost three in a row since April 2018, when they were in League One.

• Leicester have taken just 13 points from 54 available in the Championship in 2026 (W2 D7 L9) – indeed, only bottom side Sheffield Wednesday (three) have picked up fewer points in the division since the turn of the year.

• Leicester winger Abdul Fatawu has completed the most dribbles (108) in the Championship this season, while he has also been involved in more shots following a carry than any other player (76 – 54 shots, 22 chances created).

Image source, Getty Images

BBC Sport asked Leicester City fans to share their opinions on the club's hopes of avoiding relegation to League One this season.

The call went out to see if there were any 'glass half full' supporters out there and, while some remain hopeful, the overwhelming response is that there is little belief left.

Below is a cross-section of the responses.

Aryan: You know when you're walking back from the ground and no-one's even arguing any more? That's where we are. It's just a sigh and a shrug. You don't even get angry when we concede - you half expect it, like spilt drink on the walk home. Same mistakes, same faces staring at the floor, same claps to the fans that feel automatic. It doesn't feel unlucky, it feels deserved. And that's the worst part, because once a team feels like that, you don't fight relegation - you accept it.

Paul: Until it's mathematically impossible of course there's always a chance. However, there's been no fight, no passion shown by the majority of our overpaid players all season so why would anything change now? In the words of the Scottish bloke from Dad's Army, we're doomed!

John: When the 5,000-1 shot came off, we had a bunch of players who would run through brick walls to get a result. The only walls this lot would run through are those paper ones they have in Japan, and even that's only a 50/50 bet. One win in 16 games and now we've got to win at least three out of four (and probably all four) just to have a chance of staying up. Que sera, sera. Whatever will be will be. We're going to the Pi-rell-eee. Que sera, sera.

Michael: The best way to describe our situation is to compare us to being caught in the coils of a large snake. We struggle every now and then and we think we may escape but deep down we know we are going to get swallowed!

Mark: No hope left - this has been coming for a while. This will be the third relegation in four years. Questions need to be asked of the ownership and board - how did it go so wrong so quickly? Why are they breaking the financial rules and ending up with such a gutless, uninspiring squad? Why is there such a disconnect between the club and the now fractured, divided, apathetic fanbase? Do the ownership and board even realize how bad things are, how disillusioned a lot of fans are and how much worse things could get in a very short space of time? This is the club that inspired everyone to dream big, but the dream has rapidly become a nightmare with no end in sight.

Gary: Will Leicester go down? Simply, yes. After seasons of bad management and incredibly poor player recruitment, it has come to this. However, the feeling is not so numbing as in 2008. Watching football for as long as I have, I am sure we can start again. Looking at Coventry, Sunderland etc. gives one some sort of hope that fortunes can change pretty quick. The pain of relegation on this occasion has been the manner of how it's been achieved. Accomplished players, many of them internationals, who have collectively lacked the professionalism to compete at such a level. One can excuse a poor side, because they are rightly not good enough. This Leicester team is a bad one in the true sense, and shameful compared to the contemporaries of 10 years ago.

Padraig: Mismanagement at every level. Disastrous recruitment. Unmotivated players. Doesn't get much worse. New owner and complete clearout of executive committee and playing squad required. Scandalous ineptitude at every level. Relegation a certainty as no fight in these players.

Richard: There are many issues at the club no doubt, but the team's Achilles heel this season has been the lack of a striker who can score. The forward line has been woeful and if you can't score you're not going to win very many matches. Why did the club not address this issue after Jamie Vardy left in the summer? And again they had another opening in the January window, but they failed to do anything, likely as a result of PSR. I doubt we'll win another game and I've resigned myself following the failure to beat Sheffield Wednesday and Swansea that we are going down. No doubt in my mind, sadly.

Martin: It's not looking good, is it? We struggle to score at one end and we keep conceding at the other. The toxic atmosphere at the King Power doesn't help. There is no home advantage for us. I think we're more likely to pick up points away from home.

Ben: Relegation FIGHT. The clue is in the name. Have you ever seen any fight from this club in the past four years? Third relegation in four years without an ounce of real fight shown!

Ric: We've done the great escape before in 2014, why can't it happen again? Foxes never quit.

Alex: Let's not forget the great escape - we won seven of our last nine games. If we can win three of our last four we can stay up. Plus a fox is far more slippery then a bull…

Tom: I think we will beat Portsmouth and I believe we will stay up. Honest.

Stephen: It grieves me so much to witness my team in so much trouble. I don't personally subscribe to the populous belief that "the players don't care or try". If that was really the case, how could they possibly hope to win a contract elsewhere? There's a lot of good players out there, all with dreams of a Premier League chance, and just because we've been there affords us no automatic rights for automatic promotion. I AM a 'cup half full' guy, and with the trickle of returning injuries, I do hope that we'll survive - but it IS squeaky bum time.