If it wasn’t patently clear before their Premier League clash against Swansea City on Sunday afternoon, it most certainly is today.Leicester City are now in a battle to avoid becoming the first English champions since Manchester City in 1937 to suffer the ignominy of being relegated the season after winning the league.Yesterday’s 2-0 defeat at the Liberty Stadium was the fifth consecutive Premier League loss for Claudio Ranieri’s side, who now sit one point outside the relegation zone in 17th place.This time last year, Leicester were top of the table and scoring goals for fun, on course to record arguably the greatest achievement in the history of team sport.We’re now in the middle of February and the same team, albeit with a few new faces and without N’Golo Kante, are looking for their first league goal of 2017.
Vardy's nosedive echoes Leicester's
Jamie Vardy’s spectacular nosedive in form echoes that of Leicester’s.
Everything the England international touched turned to gold last season. Twenty-four goals in 38 appearances was a remarkable return for the striker who was playing non-league football with Fleetwood Town just four years earlier.
Vardy has now played 22 league matches this season and has found the back of the net just five times - and three of those came in one match, against Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City in December.
According to Squawka, the 30-year-old has now gone 513 minutes without recording a shot - not goal, shot - in the Premier League.
Vardy never looked like seriously troubling Swansea, whose supporters came up with a cheeky new song for the man who recently finished eighth in the voting for the 2016 Ballon d’Or award.
Swansea season ticket holder Josh MacDonald recorded the home supporters singing the new Vardy chant and the video has gone viral overnight.
Watch: Swansea’s new chant for Vardy
The lyrics - ”So f**k off Jamie Vardy, you've had your fu**ing party, your going down down down" - are, of course, a reference to the “Jamie Vardy’s having a party” chant that Leicester fans sang loudly and proudly throughout last season.
That party has now well and truly come to an end.
Twitter reacts
Here’s how Twitter has reacted to the chant…
Ranieri admits he may have been too loyal
Ranieri, meanwhile, has admitted that he may have been too loyal to some of his title-winning players.
"I could be (too loyal), could be," the Italian coach was quoted as saying by Sky Sports after the match.
"It is difficult when you achieve something so good, you want to give them one chance, two chances, three chances. Maybe now, it is too much.
"Of course I must change something because it is not possible to continue in this way."