Leicestershire

Ben Collins
BBC Sport journalist

Image source, Reuters

Ruud van Nistelrooy is only four games into his Leicester City tenure but the positivity generated by his winning start against West Ham already looks to have evaporated.

After last week's 4-0 defeat at Newcastle, Leicester found themselves 3-0 at half-time to a Wolves team whose manager was just sacked after a four-match losing streak.

Even after a host of substitutions at half-time and early in the second half, the Foxes posed Wolves few problems.

But what is most alarming for Van Nistelrooy is that those three goals were more down to sloppy defending than attacking enterprise.

Jannik Vestergaard and James Justin were at fault for the first two, while goalkeeper Danny Ward could have done better for the second.

The third goal was down to a general lack of urgency throughout the Leicester defence, which Van Nistelrooy must address if he is to prevent the Foxes falling into the relegation zone during the festive period.

Image source, Getty Images

Leicester City boss Ruud van Nistelrooy has been speaking to BBC Radio Leicester following the heavy defeat: "It is clear what went wrong, and everyone saw that in the first-half. In football, individual mistakes and situations that you don't handle well can cost you. Wolves were very effective at putting those moments away.

"We have to acknowledge that we didn't look good, and I will be the first to do that - it is a hard one to take."

On the past two Premier League results: "The players were focused and committed today. They wanted to do well, but it [the defeat] happened.

"We, and the players, are frustrated and disappointed but it is now about reflecting to make sure it doesn't happen again.

"Last week we spoke about set-pieces, today we are talking about miscommunication and individual mistakes.

"In the Premier League, you have to be spot on against everyone, in all areas of the game."

On the decision to take Jannik Vestergaard off at half-time: "He didn't feel well at half-time. It's no major thing for the coming days."

On Mads Hermansen's injury: "We are monitoring Mads closely. He wasn't ready for today, and the turnaround before Thursday is short, but let's see where we can get."

Image source, Getty Images

Leicester have lost a Premier League home game against Wolves for the very first time (W4 D2). This was also their first home league defeat by three or more goals since May 2023 against Liverpool (3-0).

Were you at the game or following from elsewhere?

Have your say on Leicester's performance

What did you make of Wolves' display?

Come back to this page on Monday to find a selection of your replies

There are five matches in the Premier League on Sunday.

• Everton v Chelsea - listen on BBC Radio 5 Live

• Fulham v Southampton

• Leicester v Wolves

• Man Utd v Bournemouth - listen on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

• Tottenham v Liverpool (16:30) - listen on BBC Radio 5 Live

All kick-off times 14:00 GMT unless stated

Follow all the action and reaction here

Chris Sutton is making predictions for all 380 Premier League games this season, against a variety of guests.

For week 17, he takes on Reverend & the Makers singer Jon McClure.

Sutton's prediction: 1-1

Wolves have just appointed Vitor Pereira as Gary O'Neil's replacement but they could be without their best attacking player, Matheus Cunha, through suspension, and he would be a huge miss.

They will be hoping for the same bounce in results that Leicester got when they appointed Ruud van Nistelrooy as manager a few weeks back but I think the Foxes were quite fortunate in some of those games.

Leicester have shown some spirit under Van Nistelrooy, but they are still heavily reliant on Jamie Vardy up front and still leaking goals too.

Wolves have even bigger problems at the back so Pereira might come in and try to shut up shop, but I don't know if they are capable of doing that - they are still the same players that conceded so many goals under O'Neil.

McClure's prediction: 1-1

Wolves have got enough quality to nab a draw here.

Read the full predictions and have your say

The latest When You're Smiling podcast has landed.

The Foxes are preparing to face Wolves at King Power Stadium and Owynn Palmer-Atkin is joined by The Athletic's Rob Tanner to preview the bottom of the table clash.

Plus hear from manager Ruud van Nistelrooy, who provides updates on Mads Hermansen's injury and Harry Winks' availability.

Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds

Josh Lobley
BBC Sport Journalist

Leicester City boss Ruud van Nistelrooy has been speaking to the media before Sunday's Premier League game against Wolves (kick-off 14:00 BST).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• Van Nistelrooy says it's a "possibility" that Mads Hermansen will be involved this weekend after he picked up an injury against Newcastle.

• Elsewhere in the squad he confirmed Harry Winks is available for selection, however Wilfried Ndidi is still out.

• On the challenges of facing a Wolves side who have recently hired a new manager: "You can do some research on what he's done in Saudi and the teams he has managed before. You can look on how Wolves have been playing in the last few months. Will it be big changes or minor? We have to deal with it in the moment itself."

• He spoke about what the team have worked on in training this week: "We had some good meetings. Set-pieces was a big part of that so I'm expecting an improvement there. We worked on decision making and structure on the ball. We have to protect ourselves better on the ball to prevent counter-attacks."

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

Image source, Getty Images

The six Premier League meetings between Leicester City and Wolves at the King Power Stadium have seen just seven goals scored, compared to 21 in the six meetings between the sides at Molineux.