No goals in 8 home games: the numbers behind Leicester City's record-breaking form

Part of the reason for this disappointment is how dismal things are at home.

Newcastle's loss meant Leicester City became the first team in the history of the top four divisions of English soccer to lose eight consecutive home games without scoring a goal. It is truly an amazing achievement.

The last time their home fans saw their team score in the Premier League was in the 2-2 draw against Brighton, when Bobby de Cordoba Reid equalized in stoppage time. Since then, Leicester City have conceded 21 goals without even scoring.

Every other Premier League team has scored at least four home goals since Leicester City's last. Twelve teams have scored at least 10 goals in that time.

However, while well below par, Leicester City may also consider themselves a little unlucky. Since they last scored, they've had 81 shots on goal in those eight games, generating 6.54 expected goals, but failed to find the net even once. Their underperformance is the worst in the league when compared to the xG's of that period, suggesting a serious lack of strength and confidence and - if we're being generous - a bit of bad luck.

They even “won” the xG battle in two of their home games - against two Manchester teams - albeit only twice (1.3 to 1.27 against City; 1.05 to 0.91 against Man Utd). 1.27; 1.05 to 0.91 against United). They lost those games 2-0 and 3-0, respectively.

They have not been helped by a porous defense that has allowed 13.5 xG to their opponents in those eight games. however, the fact that four teams (Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur, Ipswich, and West Ham) have conceded more xG in that time period, and perhaps sent 21 goals in from 13.5 xG worth of chances, adds to the sense of misfortune.

But there's no denying their history of poor performances since bringing in Van Nistelrooy in the winter. He was supposed to stop Leicester City sliding towards the bottom of the table, but his tenure has been nothing but a complete disaster.

He is averaging just 0.37 points per game and has led the club from 16th place in late November to 19th in early April. They are 15 points adrift of safety with only 21 points remaining. Relegation is almost certain.

Van Nistelrooy's future is certainly now in doubt. After Monday's loss to Newcastle, he became only the second manager in Premier League history to lose eight consecutive home games in the Champions League, behind Daniel Farke in September 2021 at Norwich City. He's overseen three wins and a draw in his four games in charge of United, which feels like a long, long time ago, so it's hard to imagine he'll get another chance at this level anytime soon.

However, with or without him, Leicester City will go straight back to the Championship. If they return to the top flight again soon, they will need to do things very, very differently.