Leicester City: Are Foxes doomed in battle to avoid back-to-back relegations?

Leicester City are on the brink of relegation to League One and could go down as early as Tuesday night.

The Foxes need to beat promotion-chasing Hull City to give themselves any hope of survival, but, even then, results elsewhere this week could still seal their fate.

Relegation would complete one of the most unwanted full-circle moments in sport, with Leicester’s 5,000-1 Premier League title win of 2016 coming just seven years after they ended a one-year stay in League One.

The demise that has them on the cusp of dropping back to the third tier a decade on from being crowned English champions, and just five years after lifting the FA Cup, has been alarming.

It would be their second relegation in as many seasons and third in four years, having previously yo-yoed between the Premier League and Championship.

Defeat by relegation rivals Portsmouth on Saturday has the Foxes eight points adrift of safety with just nine points left to play for.

The situation is dire and has Leicester fans angry – with one exchange with supporters provoking Leicester’s former England international Harry Winks to return a foul-mouthed verbal volley at supporters, external as he boarded the bus back from Fratton Park at the weekend.

Foxes goalkeeper Asmir Begovic, speaking to BBC Radio Leicester without knowledge of his team-mate’s confrontation outside the ground, said he “can understand the frustrations” of supporters.

The former Chelsea, Bournemouth and Stoke City goalkeeper says frustrations about this season are “shared” by the players – although acrimony among fans runs deeper than dismal results produced by a squad with one of the biggest pay packets in the division.

Begovic says Leicester “will keep fighting” and argues that “everything is still possible” with three games left.

“The belief is still there,” the former Bosnia-Herzegovina international said.

“It’s a big game against Hull, and if you win that, things can look a lot different. Of course we need a bit of luck and a bit of fortune on our side, but we keep pushing as much as we can.”