Updated at 22.21
LEICESTER’S BID for automatic promotion back to the Premier League stumbled again with a 1-0 defeat to Plymouth on Friday.
Mustapha Bundu’s fine finish earned Argyle their first home win since January to move five points clear of the relegation zone at the other end of the table.
Leicester seemed destined to bounce straight back from their shock relegation last season after winning 13 of their first 14 league games this season.
But the Foxes are unravelling at the business end of the campaign.
Enzo Maresca’s men also lost 1-0 to relegation-threatened Millwall in midweek and have won just two of their last six games.
Leicester remain on top of the table, but are ahead of Ipswich only on goal difference and one point ahead of third-placed Leeds.
The 2016 Premier League winners could find themselves out of the automatic promotion places by Saturday should Leeds and Ipswich avoid defeat at home to Blackburn and Middlesbrough respectively.
By contrast, Plymouth are now unbeaten in three games under interim boss Neil Dewsnip to pull clear of the bottom three.
Victory hauls the Pilgrims up to 16th.
Meanwhile, it was confirmed earlier today that the Foxes would not be deducted Championship points if found to have breached Premier League financial rules before the end of the season.
The Foxes were charged with breaching the top flight’s profitability and sustainability rules (PSR) last month in relation to the assessment period ending with the 2022-23 season, when they were still a Premier League club.
The club issued “urgent legal proceedings” on 22 March against that charge, and against an EFL transfer embargo.
The EFL revealed on Friday that as part of those proceedings, Leicester had sought an interim injunction preventing any sporting sanction – such as a points penalty – being imposed in the current season, with the Foxes battling Leeds and Ipswich for automatic promotion to the Premier League.
However, the EFL has now said that after taking legal advice it does not have the power under its rules as currently drafted to impose any points penalty ordered by an independent commission set up to hear a Premier League charge, and has confirmed that to all parties concerned.
It said Leicester’s application for an injunction was therefore no longer necessary.
There had been no realistic expectation that any points penalty arising from the Premier League charge would end up being applied to this season’s total, given the timescales involved.
Additional reporting by Press Association
