Leicestershire

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Earlier, we asked you who scored Leicester's first Premier League goal of the 2024-25 season.

The answer is Jamie Vardy, who netted in the 1-1 draw against Tottenham on 19 August.

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New Leicester signing Woyo Coulibaly has "honed his skills in the highest school of the defensive arts", says Football Italia writer Giancarlo Rinaldi.

Earlier this week, Coulibaly signed from Serie A side Parma and Rinali told the latest When You're Smiling podcast from BBC Radio Leicester that Foxes fans can have confidence in their new full-back.

"He is a versatile player - mainly quite an adventurous attacking right back," Rinaldi said. "He can play left-back and slotted in there on numerous occasions. He even played right-wing!

"He won't score a lot of goals from wing-back or even necessarily set up a lot. But Parma were a very good counter-attacking team and he was an important element in that, especially the promotion campaign.

"He's kicked on this season and looked pretty good in Serie A. He did a good job on Milan's Rafa Leao and got the man-of-the-match award. He's certainly honed his skills in the highest school of the defensive arts."

Leicester fans have told this page all season that Ruud van Nistelrooy's side are light in full-back areas so Coulibaly will offer welcome competition in that part of the pitch.

"He strikes me as quite a thoughtful, thinking player," Rinaldi said. "When he signed for Parma for Enzo Maresca, he was keen to go there because he knew that was great defenders were made. He had offers from Ligue 1 sides but went to Italy's second tier to develop himself.

"In the past, he said one of his idols is Joao Cancelo. He's a different physique but he likes to get forward. He looked good in Serie A and was probably right for a move to a bigger side."

Van Nistelrooy said he hopes Coulibaly can be involved in some capacity on Saturday for their game against Fulham, and said the 25-year-old is "in the prime of his career".

Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds

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Leicester boss Ruud van Nistelrooy feels the fight for Premier League survival will go down to the final game of the season but "the belief" to stay up is "definitely still there".

The Foxes' defeat to Crystal Palace on Wednesday was their sixth successive loss in the league and they remain second from bottom.

"We want to be out of the situation come May," said Van Nistelrooy. "We also know we are in a position with three or four teams that are close together and they are also dropping points.

"That makes the situation possible, but it is up to us to start collecting points. Performances are something you can build on but we are all fed up of that.

"From the first day I joined, I spoke about it going right to the last day this battle. You have hopes, we could surprise and get more results to get us out of the situation early, so in that sense it is disappointing that didn't happen.

"There is an amount of patience required, for a six-week start of a collaboration between me and the players, the club, and to believe that in this path good performances will turn into points.

"The belief is there, definitely. With the remaining games and how close the bottom five teams is together, there is possibilities, but we have to start collecting points."

Leicester travel to Bournemouth for the final game of the season, but will also face relegation rivals Ipswich and Southampton in the final four games.

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This will be the 12th Premier League meeting between Leicester and Fulham.

It is the most played fixture in the competition where at least one of the sides was in their first season after promotion in every single meeting.

Who scored Leicester's first Premier League goal of the 2024-25 season?

Answer will be revealed at 17:00 GMT

The latest episode of BBC Radio Leicester's When You're Smiling podcast has landed.

Hear from Owynn Palmer-Atkin, former Foxes striker Matty Fryatt and the BBC's John Bennett as they discuss new signing Woyo Coulibaly and preview Saturday's home game with Fulham.

Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds

Nick Mashiter
BBC Sport football news reporter

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Ruud van Nistelrooy knows he needs time at Leicester - but acknowledges he does not have that luxury.

The Foxes boss is "fed up" talking about positive performances without points after their 2-0 defeat by Crystal Palace on Wednesday.

It was a sixth straight defeat in the Premier League and left them in the bottom three before Saturday's visit of Fulham.

Van Nistelrooy, who has only been at the club for seven weeks, remains relaxed and confident in his squad's ambition to survive and they are only two points away from the safety line.

Yet the natives are restless at King Power Stadium, frustrated with the lack of results but also the running of the club, with director of football Jon Rudkin in the firing line from fans again on Wednesday.

Van Nistelrooy said: "It's the belief, it's the part in me that after seven weeks there's patience required - although there is no time - and how close the bottom five teams are together. There are possibilities but we have to pick up points.

"Every game there is the pressure to perform, whether you are up in the league or down in the league. Every team is doing their utmost to do so.

"There is no pressure adding up, it just shifts from game to game, you play them one at a time. That pressure doesn't add up, every game you perform. That cycle, I'm used to."

Phil Cartwright
BBC Sport journalist

Leicester City boss Ruud van Nistelrooy has been speaking to the media before Saturday's Premier League game against Fulham (kick-off 15:00 GMT).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• New signing Woyo Coulibaly did not train with the team on Thursday while the paperwork regarding his transfer from Parma was finalised, but Van Nistelrooy is hopeful he may be involved in some capacity against Fulham.

• Van Nistelrooy said of Coulibaly: "He's a strong, powerful player and very good in one-v-one situations defensively. He's good on the ball and he has a physical profile that suits the Premier League. He's also at an age where he's in the prime of his career, so we have high hopes for him to do well for us."

• On the prospect of more signings in January: "We're working on every possibility. I'm very happy with this one [Coulibaly -, he's a very good option for us and also for the future of the club. Hopefully we can add some more."

• On positives despite a run of six straight Premier League defeats: "It's a matter of getting those good performances into points and that's the target because we know where we are in the league. Only points can get us out of that situation. we know that every game we don't collect [points] is one game gone and that makes it more difficult."

• He added: "Performances are something you can build on, but we're all fed up with that and want points."

• On lifting the players after another loss: "We want to show what we're about, and I want to show what I'm about, to deal with disappointments. Sir Bobby [Robson] always said: 'when the going gets tough, the tough get going'. That's something I thought about this morning - let's be tough and show the same passion, commitment, spirit and belief that we can do it on Saturday."

• Van Nistelrooy described Fulham as a "well-organised team" that are "very well managed" and added it will be a "fantastic challenge to compete with them".

Follow Thursday's Premier League news conferences and the rest of the day's football news

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We asked for your thoughts after Wednesday's Premier League game between Leicester and Crystal Palace.

Here are some of your comments:

Leicester fans:

James: First half was decent with good chances, but so we were wasteful and the build-up all too slow to really hurt the opposition. Second half? May as well have just given the win to Palace with so little of note to report.

Gerry: It is difficult to know what goes through the minds of the players in such games? Lack of confidence or belief in their abilities? We need to move the ball forward more, passing it back creates that negativity we need to rid of and that would create more chances and utilise players like Jamie Vardy.

Steve: Same old problems continue to bring us down. No clue how to mark in defence and too slow all over the pitch, plus zero control in midfield. Embarassingly easy for Palace.

Matt: You can't expect to survive with home defeats by teams in and around the relegation zone. Big damage was done losing 3-0 to Wolves and last night's loss sadly further damages our survival hopes. The squad is not at the level - not directly their fault but poor recruitment over previous years has come to fruition.

Crystal Palace fans:

Paul: Palace got the job done, but I am worried that Eberechi Eze wasn't as influential as he should be. He seemed to pause too long on the ball and was not instinctive enough. There were lot of misplaced passes. A shame about Trevoh Chalobah but our defense is still mean though.

Stanis: Another hard-fought win against the teams around us, which has been the Palace way ever since we got promoted. Ismaila Sarr and Will Hughes put in another great shift. The free-flowing football from the end of last season will return once Adam Wharton is back match fit.

Jerry: A poor start by Palace who gave the ball away too easily and helped make Leicester look the better side in the first half. I'm guessing Glasner spoke his mind at half-time and they improved and looked dangerous on the break. A hard-working three points and hopefully less pressure on the team for their next match at West Ham.

Leslie: A thoroughly deserved win. Not pretty but the defence was controlled in excellent fashion. Maxence Lacroix was exceptional.