Claude Puel Sacked by Leicester City After Crystal Palace Defeat

Leicester City sacked Claude Puel on Sunday following Saturday's 4-1 defeat at home to Crystal Palace.

The Foxes announced the news via Twitter:

Puel leaves Leicester 12th in the Premier League, having lost five of their past six league matches.

The 57-year-old replaced Craig Shakespeare in October 2017, with the club 14th in the table but just one point above the relegation zone.

He guided Leicester to a ninth-placed finish, but they picked up just three wins in their final 14 matches of the campaign.

Despite recording surprise victories against Chelsea and Manchester City in December, the Foxes have shown little improvement this season, and they were knocked out of the FA Cup by League Two's Newport County.

OptaJoe put Puel's record at the King Power Stadium in context:

While Leicester—despite their fairytale title win in 2015/16—can realistically only aim to finish seventh, they are being comfortably outperformed by several teams around them.

Puel's sacking came as little surprise to the Daily Mail's Oliver Holt on Sunday Supplement:

TalkSport's Geoff Peters also observed the manager's difficulty in connecting with supporters:

Puel has left Leicester eight points clear of the drop, but they are equally far away from Watford in seventh place, so his replacement will likely be content to finish in the top half this season.

There's plenty to work with at the King Power Stadium, though. In the likes of Jamie Vardy, Kasper Schmeichel and Jonny Evans they have title-winning experience, while the squad is packed with young talent in Ben Chilwell, Demarai Gray, James Maddison, Wilfred Ndidi and others.

A top-six finish next season would still be a big ask, but the Foxes could achieve much more than a bottom-half finish.