Charlton at risk of being outfoxed

In a weak league Leicester City were expected to be more competitive, and Cifuentes was identified as the man to help pull it all together. He’s the latest manager to have lost his job, after the club held boardroom talks over the weekend and came to the conclusion that it was time for a change.

Leicester’s owner, Aiyawatt “Top” Srivaddhanaprabha, attended the last game and witnessed the growing level of frustration inside King Power Stadium as supporters turned on those in positions of power at the club.

Leicester also face a points deduction this season for allegedly breaching profit and sustainability rules, and are restricted to signing loan players in this transfer window. If this bad run of form continues, they will also be nervously looking over their shoulder and with other clubs finding a way to pick up points, that’s quickly becoming a concern.

Leicester will be looking to achieve a league double over Charlton for the first time since 1981-82 (also in the second division), having won 1-0 at The Valley earlier this season.  Charlton have only won one of their past 10 away league matches against Leicester (D5 L4), with that lone victory coming in February 2013 under Chris Powell (a 2-1 win in the Championship).

Leicester haven't kept a clean sheet in the Championship since a 0-0 draw with league leaders Coventry in September 2025, going 23 matches without one. Since the start of last season, they have the lowest clean sheet percentage (9%) of any team in England's top four tiers (6/67).  They have conceded 17 goals at homem scoring 20.

Since the start of November, only West Brom have fewer points (1) in Championship away games than Charlton (2). The Addicks are one of only three sides without an away win in this period (D2 L6), along with West Brom and Sheffield Wednesday.

Abdul Fatawu has the most goal involvements and assists for Leicester in the Championship this season (13 - 6 goals, 7 assists), while his 74 completed dribbles are at least 22 more than any other player in the division (Mikey Johnston, 52).

Managerial search

Leicester’s search for a manager shows the challenges that even a club of their size face in finding a suitable replacement.  Numerous potential candidates have become immediately linked with the Leicester post, with Gary Rowett and Derek McInnes amongst the first of those to be reported.

The latter is currently overseeing a Scottish Premiership title charge with Hearts having penned a new long-term contract at the end of last season, whilst Rowett is now available on the managerial market after he was dismissed by Oxford on December 23^rd.

However, when asked about links to the managerial post at his former club, which he played for 57 times between 2000 and 2002, the 51-year-old kept his cards extremely close to his chest.

Russell Martin was identified as a potential replacement for Ruud Van Nistelrooy last summer before Leicester moved to hand Cifuentes an initial three-year contract at the King Power, and the former Southampton and Rangers boss has, once again, become linked with the role having been out of work for three months.

Oh, the quality!