Is getting promoted to the Premier League too easy if you've just been relegated?
Daniel Storey from the i Newspaper has been telling The Football News Show about a problem brewing in winning promotion and battling the drop.
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Former Leicester defender Liam Moore spoke to the When You're Smiling podcast about the Foxes' potential breach of profit and sustainability rules:
"It sounds like a situation that Leicester are going to have to deal with this summer, no two ways about it, regardless of what league they're in.
"It's so messy. There's so many different situations and I think they're starting to confuse themselves a bit - nobody really knows where they stand. Nobody has any clarity over what's happening.
"I think the only way you can get to the bottom of this is by ripping it up and starting again, and that will take a lot of egos to be dropped but it would make things a lot clearer.
"Promotion sounds like it's vital again. To potentially have to lose some of your assets very quickly comes at a price. There will be cut-priced player sales, which isn't ideal for the club moving forward.
"I'm just hoping there can be more clarity moving forward over what clubs can and can't do."
Leicester are set to be charged for breaching the Premier League's profit and sustainability rules in 2022-23 and could start next season with a points deduction, whichever division they are in. (Sky Sports), external
Want more transfer stories? Read Friday's full gossip column
Image source, Getty ImagesLeicester could play a part in something never seen before in English football this season.
If the Foxes, Leeds and Southampton manage to secure promotion to the top flight, it will be the first time that all three relegated teams go back up at the first possible opportunity.
If only two of the three teams secure promotion, it will be the seventh time that has happened, with Norwich and Watford in 2020-21 the most recent to achieve this feat.
Kieran McKenna's Ipswich are the team most likely to disrupt this record as they are currently second with 10 games to go.
Regardless of other teams, if Leicester to get promoted this year, they will become the first club to return to the Premier League on three different occasions.
Game on!
Leicester City could be forced to sell several of their top players to avoid breaking financial rules, even if they achieve promotion to the Premier League. (Mirror, external)
Former Leicester City striker Steve Howard says Foxes boss Enzo Marsca will be "drawing a line through" Tuesday's tight 1-0 win over Sunderland.
Jamie Vardy's early goal was enough to end the club's three-game losing run and maintain their three-point lead at the top of the Championship.
"It's another frustrating performance because of the dominance of the first half," Howard told BBC Radio Leicester's When You're Smiling podcast.
"If this was August, September, October then you'll be thinking you want the performance and all this.
"At this stage of the season, it's about the three points. You get those three points - if it's an ugly 1-0 we'll take it.
"On you go and Enzo Maresca will just be drawing a line through Sunderland, saying: 'Right, done, tick, win, next.'
"That's the mentality he's going to give. The lads will say on to the next one and it's another three points.
"I think they'll be buzzing. They knew it was a big game. They were on a run of getting beaten and now they're not. They'll have come here thinking: 'Today's the day we change things with a win.'"
Image source, Getty ImagesLeicester City boss Enzo Maresca says his team had to win "ugly" away to Sunderland on Tuesday.
The Foxes ended a run of three league defeats with a tight victory at the Stadium of Light thanks to Jamie Vardy's early goal.
"Very important victory, especially after the three defeats," Maresca told BBC Radio Leicester's When You're Smiling podcast.
"We won the game in an ugly way but, in this moment, it's important winning in this way. It's part of the process to improve as a team.
"In the past three defeats we played much much better, created more chances, but at the end we lost the game.
"First half, we create again many, many chances, at the end we won this game.
"In the second half, we were a little bit tired. We are at the end of the season, day by day I am more in love with the team because they do an unbelievable effort.
"We have many players that in the past few years didn't play a lot and now they are playing so much at the end of the season.
"It's normal that some of them can be tired - but now it's important that we recover energy and go again Saturday."
Former Foxes winger Matt Piper has been discussing the importance of Leicester's match against Sunderland on Tuesday on BBC Radio Leicester's When You're Smiling podcast.
Piper said: "I think they are [in must-win territory] but more for the fact they have lost three in a row. It just piles on the pressure if you go and lose four in a row, the confidence will be chipped away hugely if we go and get beaten at the Stadium of Light.
"I think it is more for the psychological fact rather than anything else. We need to get three points, we're in a position where it isn't must win to still be able to win the league, but psychologically it could be so damaging so we are in that territory.
"There are still fans that are saying 'we're still three points clear, we've just hit a bit of a blip, don't worry Enzo [Maresca] will sort it, these players will march forwards and we'll pick up points against Sunderland'. Then you have others saying 'the wheels have definitely fallen off, we're not even going to finish in the play-offs and if we do we're going to get beaten in the semi-final' and players are very similar to that.
"Some, in the back of their mind, will be fearing these next three league games and others will be thinking this is our chance to look adversity in the face and get marching after it and make sure we win the game against Sunderland.
"It has made Sunderland a huge, huge game now - they all are. I said it before the QPR game, then we lost it, so now this Sunderland game becomes huge, but even bigger because everyone without doubt will be saying the wheels have 100% fallen off if we go to the Stadium of Light and get beaten."
Chris Forryan
Fan writer
It is said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
We have played the same way, with mostly the same players, for three consecutive league games - and have lost all three.
I admit that not being able to hit a barn door with a banjo has also contributed, but maybe some of these players are in their comfort zone knowing that, however they play, Enzo Maresca will stick by them.
Lose to Middlesbrough, lose to Leeds United, all change for the FA Cup, beat Premier League opposition then revert back to losing against Queens Park Rangers.
Don’t tell Enzo that I am critiquing him or his style - I don’t want him spitting his dummy out. But is it time for a plan B? Do we have a plan B?
Let’s get real. Yes, we have won 25 games this season and we have been top since game eight.
But that was then and now our lead is down to three points. We have tough games coming up, and Ipswich Town, Leeds and the chasing pack must be rubbing their hands together.
Chris Forryan can be found at Leicester Till I Die, external
Image source, Getty ImagesFormer Leicester City winger Matt Piper says the Foxes must now "pull together and really dig deep" after a third defeat in a row cut their lead at the top of the Championship to just three points.
"You have to be concerned," he told the When You're Smiling podcast. "Three defeats in a row, I don't even think we had that at home under Brendan [Rodgers] in the worst of times.
"We're clearly going through something at the minute which is concerning, the teams behind us keep winning.
"There was that fear of the past two, three weeks of could we get reeled in - and I think that's starting to happen now.
"I have to now put my belief in the manager, the one who took us to the top of the table and had us playing fantastic football all this season, and his mentality.
"Can he create that culture and environment that makes him a little bit more steely as this run-in happens?
"This now is going to be really difficult because when you start getting reeled in there'll be press, the Leeds fans, Ipswich fans will be calling us bottle jobs - and we've seen it before at this football club.
"Being in the top four for however many months and not finishing there for those two seasons, we bottled it a little bit and you are always worried about that.
"I've believed in this manager all season and this group of players. I did think they would get promoted at the start of the season - they had a fantastic start, they've been excellent.
"We've hit a patch now where we need to pull together and really dig deep."
Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds
In a new episode of BBC Radio Leicester's When You're Smiling, Owynn Palmer-Atkin and John Bennett look ahead to the visit of rejuvenated QPR and hear from Foxes boss Enzo Maresca.
The panel discussed how Maresca could adapt to the absence of key centre-back Jannick Vestergaard, who will miss the match through suspension.
"Whoever comes in has got big shoes to fill this weekend," said Palmer-Atkin.
"You heard Enzo talking about how he's got so many options.
"Callum Doyle can play on the left hand side. James Justin can play on the left or the right. Wout Faes has played on the right and in the middle. You've also got Ricardo Perreira, who is an orthodox right-back. Plus, you can throw Hamza Choudary in, who put in what a lot of people are saying was one of his best ever Leicester performances against Bournemouth on Tuesday night.
"All of a sudden, you're looking at this as one of the strongest areas of the pitch for Leicester. It's an interesting balance because Conor Coady offers you perhaps slightly more pace in the backline - maybe not the finesse, style on the ball, that Vestergaard has, but he does offer a wealth of experience compared with throwing a young man in there like Ben Nelson.
"Personally, I'd go with Coady."
"Conor Coady played well in midweek," added Bennett. "I'd go with Coady. I know he hasn't had it all his own way this season and surprisingly hasn't been a first choice, but what I like about him is his personality and leadership.
"He's someone who has a good influence on those around him so I would definitely go with Conor Coady."
Image source, Getty ImagesEnzo Maresca says Leicester "need to pay attention" to Saturday's opponents QPR because they pose a different threat under boss Marti Cifuentes.
Cifuentes replaced Gareth Ainsworth two days after the Foxes won at Loftus Road in October and has managed to guide them out of the relegation zone.
They travel to King Power Stadium on Saturday unbeaten in seven matches.
"They completely changed with the new manager," said Maresca. "They're an attacking team now and try to keep the ball, so we need to pay attention tomorrow."
The Foxes remain top of the table but Leeds United and Ipswich have closed the gap to six points in second and third respectively.
On whether this reality adds any pressure to get results, Maresca explained it was not something that concerned him.
"We have to enjoy the pressure because it’s much better to be where we are than mid-table and playing for nothing," he said.
"Sometimes when you lose points it is upsetting but hopefully soon, we can be more relaxed.
"Now we are in the final rush and all of the games are important. If you drop points, you see teams come close."
The draw for the FA Cup quarter-finals has been made, with the ties set to be played on the weekend of Saturday, 16 March.
Owynn Palmer-Atkin
BBC Radio Leicester reporter
It was a night to remember on the south coast for Leicester City as they showed grit, fight and belief to get themselves into the FA Cup quarter finals.
Aside from Abdul Fatawu’s stunning strike, it feels like a backs-to-the-wall performance like that has been a long time coming for Leicester City.
They also proved that they have the ability to go toe-to-toe with Premier League opposition and that will have pleased Enzo Maresca.
But it could well become the perfect antidote to the back-to-back defeats the Foxes have suffered in recent games.
They now have the jubilation and momentum from this win to take into Saturday's game against Queens Park Rangers as they continue their assault towards the Championship title.
