8 talking points from the Premier League weekend

Heroes to Zeros: Leicester City’s dramatic decline

In what was dubbed a ‘relegation six-pointer’, only one side showed up. And it wasn’t the defending league champions.

The magic of last season has well and truly gone from Leicester. Last week’s FA Cup win over Derby County seems to have done little to catalyse The Foxes and help them push on in the Premier League.

Goals from Alfie Mawson and Martin Olsson were enough to see off the defending champions, whose long list of woes are only growing. Without a goal in the league since December 31, 2016, it seems hard to see how Leicester can dig themselves out of this hole.

It is not just a problem in front of goal causing Leicester’s issues, but an uncertainty at the back. Mawson’s goal showed this, left in far too much room and unmarked as he skilfully volleyed home.

If you can’t defend properly and you aren’t scoring either, then just how do you stay outside the relegation zone? It seems to only be heading one way, and that’s down.

Swansea on the other hand look rejuvenated under Paul Clement, who fittingly won Manager of the Month earlier this week.

If Clement can continue to get his side playing the way they have been, then The Swans will be confident that they can avoid the drop. For as long as Gylfi Sigurdsson and Fernando Llorente remain fit, Swansea will feel highly optimistic that they can stay in the top-flight for the foreseeable future.

Man of the Match Mawson proved his importance to the team, as well as Lukas Fabianski making a crucial save from Islam Slimani to keep Swansea’s decisive two-goal lead, and his clean sheet, intact.

Swansea will go into their next game, away to Chelsea, full of confidence knowing that they have nothing to lose.

They have shown already they can beat the big teams and a result at Chelsea would surely dispel many of their doubters.

For Leicester, on the other hand, boss Claudio Ranieri will be hoping that an FA Cup trip to League One outfit Millwall will help spark the champions’ season, unlike the Derby result did against Swansea.

They now are precariously placed just a point above the drop zone, and the question beckons: Where next for Leicester City?