What Ipswich have that Leicester City don't as Jamie Carragher points finger at King Power crowd
The negativity that shrouds Leicester City could harm their bid to escape the relegation zone, Jamie Carragher believes.
City sit 19th in the Premier League table at the halfway stage, two points from safety, and are joined in the bottom three by fellow promoted clubs Southampton and Ipswich. Both Carragher and fellow Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville believe they will be the trio to go down.
However, for Carragher, Ipswich have the best chance of escaping because of the “feel-good factor” at Portman Road, helped by a 2-0 win over Chelsea on Monday night. Meanwhile, he feels an expectation of survival at City leads to negativity in the stands, and that’s going to hold them back.
READ MORE: Ruud van Nistelrooy must teach Bilal El Khannouss what Brendan Rodgers taught James Maddison
READ MORE: Aston Villa hit with double blow ahead of Leicester City clash
The mood at the King Power Stadium was much improved on Sunday, fans chanting the team off the pitch despite the loss to Manchester City. However, the week before, there was a toxic atmosphere as supporters booed their own goalkeeper Danny Ward after his mistakes in a 3-0 loss to Wolves.
Speaking on Sky Sports, Carragher said: “I’ve been really worried for Leicester since Ruud van Nistelrooy came in, even though some of the results have been really good, and the performance against Man City was really good. I think Leicester have given up a lot of opportunities, shots, big chances, in all of the games they’ve played in, bar the Man City one.
“I think because Leicester expect to stay up, at times there can be a bit of negativity. They’ve already changed their manager because they expect to stay up.
“At Ipswich, there’s still that feel-good factor, and if they have a few bad results, they’re not going to get too down on themselves, they’re not going to get too negative. Whereas I feel at Leicester, the crowd can become a bit negative.”
Neville, meanwhile, feels City have the best chance of overhauling one of the clubs outside the bottom three because of the Premier League know-how in their squad. The City players collectively have more than 2,000 Premier League appearances to their name, more than seven other squads in the division.
Neville said: “It’s between Ipswich and Leicester obviously. It was a massive win for Ipswich over Chelsea and if something like that started to happen, the atmosphere down there could become quite special.
“I was at Leicester (on Sunday), I actually thought they played quite well against Man City, and had moments in the game. I’d like them both to stay up but they obviously won’t. I’ll go Leicester, just because they have more experience of the league. I’ll go Leicester if there’s one team going to get out of it.”
