Doing a December double over Derby may have offered Leicester fans some festive cheer but it is unlikely to brook the festering resentment against a board whose treatment of staff over Christmas has only exacerbated the ill will around the King Power Stadium.
First-half goals from Bobby De Cordova-Reid and Jordan James sandwiched Rhian Brewster’s equaliser to earn Martí Cifuentes, the manager, some respite after successive defeats. Leicester are four points off the playoff zone going into Thursday’s visit to Sheffield United but there are still plans for fans to boycott next Monday’s televised game with West Brom.
Cifuentes praised the fans’ vocal encouragement on the night – “That’s the kind of atmosphere I love,” he said. “The fans were very helpful for us and I’m pleased for them” – but it is fragile.
It took until the 15th minute for the home fans to start chanting “sack the board” and calling for the technical director, Jon Rudkin, to go, by which stage both teams had scored. There were also banners, one demanding “King Power out”. By the time James gave Leicester the lead four minutes before the interval, the home crowd barely knew whether to cheer or jeer.
Scrooge would have struggled to make a worse job of managing staff morale at Christmas than Leicester. Non-player wages were due to be paid on 19 December before an email from the interim managing director, Kamonthip Netthanomsak, “regrettably” informed staff they were being deferred until New Year’s Eve. The atmosphere at the Christmas party was said to be foul. The chair, Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha, has not missed at least three recent home games so his pleas for club and fans to come together have not gone down well.
They have shown they can win big games – such as against Ipswich, and at Pride Park three weeks ago – but then lose twice to drop back into mid-table. So it is not surprising home supporters’ spirits oscillate more than a chocolate-giddy child halfway through the Christmas holidays.
They were up when De Cordova-Reid sidefooted home in the sixth minute, after the bright spark Abdul Fatawu beat Callum Elder to cross from the right wing; and down again when Brewster converted Elder’s cross from the left after good work from Patrick Agyemang.
Leicester still have a sprinkling of Premier League quality, demonstrated when Stephy Madividi invited Oliver Skipp to punch in a first-time pass for Luke Thomas to control, spin and volley wide. But Cifuentes, who succeeded Ruud van Nistelrooy in the summer, claims to still be working through inherited problems, and that is before a potential points deduction kicks in for spending breaches from two years ago.
Yang Min-hyeok scored a last-gasp winner to give Portsmouth a vital 2-1 win over Charlton and lift them out of the relegation zone. Harvey Knibbs headed in an equaliser in the last minute of additional time after Conor Shaughnessy had given Pompey the lead. But Portsmouth went straight up the other end and caused euphoria right around the ground as Tottenham loanee Yang struck a devastating blow to Nathan Jones' side.
Sheffield United moved seven points clear of the relegation zone after claiming a 2-1 win away at Stoke. Second-half goals from Jairo Riedewald and Tom Cannon secured all three points for Chris Wilder's side. Ben Wilmot halved the deficit with 25 minutes remaining but Stoke, who lost Ben Pearson to an 88th-minute red card, were unable to find an equaliser and have now failed to register a win in six out of their last seven matches.
A 90th-minute winner from the substitute Vivaldo Semedo earned in-form Watford a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Norwich at Carrow Road while Sheffield Wednesday's winless run stretched to 17 games with a goalless draw at Blackburn.
Wrexham moved to within four points of the playoff places with a 2-1 win over Preston. Nathan Broadhead (pictured) nodded them in front in the 28th minute before the substitute Ollie Rathbone doubled their lead 12 minutes from time, with Alfie Devine's late consolation not enough to stop Phil Parkinson's men making it back-to-back wins in the league for the first time this season.
Macaulay Langstaff's first goal since the opening day of the season gave Millwall a 2-1 victory over Bristol City that moved them back into the playoff positions. Adam Randell cancelled out Camiel Neghli's opening goal but Langstaff won it with nine minutes remaining.
Set-piece headers from the defenders George Campbell and Nat Phillips gave West Brom a welcome 2-1 home win over QPR. Ousmane Diakité's 35th-minute own goal pegged West Brom back until Phillips restored their lead 10 minutes after the break.
Zan Vipotnik scored his 12th goal of the season for Swansea as they completed a double over managerless Oxford with a 1-0 win at the Kassam Stadium. The Slovenia international powerfully headed in Josh Tymon's left-wing cross in the 14th minute.
Darko Gyabi's clinical first-half strike enabled Hull to turn the tables with a 1-0 win over Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium – less than a month after being hammered 4-1 at Hull's MKM Stadium.
Cameron Archer sealed a point in a 1-1 draw for Southampton after Phil Neumann's header had looked to put Birmingham on course for a first win since 1 December. PA Media
James, on loan from Rennes, looks among Leicester’s best players and scored his seventh league goal of the season when he ran on to Thomas’s pass, nonchalantly shrugged off Liam Thompson and steered the ball past Jacob Zetterström. “JJ is very important for us,” Cifuentes said, indicating Rennes are not due to recall him. “He wants to keep improving and we have a plan for him as a club.”
Derby went four games unbeaten in between these defeats by Leicester. They are doughty under John Eustace, and look far more resilient than when fighting relegation this time last year. They had won five successive games before losing the 10-goal Carlton Morris to an ankle injury that has ruled him out until February.
They are missing him, even if Brewster, Agyemang, Lars-Jørgen Salvesen and Ben Brereton-Díaz offer plenty of contrasting attacking potential. Eustace said: “In that final third we need to show a bit more quality and belief, to want to put our head in where it hurts. We put plenty of good crosses in but we need to get on the end of them. It’s frustrating because we felt we could come here and win. But you can’t fault their effort.”
Hamza Choudhury and Aaron Ramsey – who went off with a recurrence of a hamstring injury four minutes after coming on as a substitute – joined the list of midfield players ruled out for Leicester. Already missing is Boubakary Soumaré, with Harry Winks seemingly on his way out of the club. But they finished the game in control, with Zetterström, the Derby goalkeeper, spectacularly tipping over a headed intervention from Ebou Adams, his own captain.
