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A decade after EPL triumph, Leicester relegated to third tier, Chelsea beaten again
Sanjeev Kumar | April 22, 2026 12:21 PM CST

New Delhi: Leicester City were relegated to the third tier of English football, exactly 10 years after their amazing run to the English Premier Leaague title, while Brighton & Hove piled more misery on Chelsea.

Following relegation to the second-tier Chamoionship last year, Leicester suffered a second consecutive drop after a 2-2 home draw to Hull City.

It kept the Foxes rooted at 23rd spot in the points taable with 42 points from 44 games, and seven away from the safety zone with only two games remaining.

“Incredibly frustrating. I think the bigger picture is you don’t get relegated over three, four games. You get relegated over a season… we’ve only kept five clean sheets all season,” manager Gary Rowett said, who is Leicester’s fourth manager in less than a year.

It is a stunning downfall for the club who won the 2015-16 EPL as 5,000-1 outsiders under Claudio Ranieri, in a delightful underdog story before reaching the Champions League quarter-finals in 2017 and winning their maiden FA Cup in 2021.

But they were deducted six points this season for breaches of financial rules on spending and saw their appeal get turned down this month.

“This club won the Premier League not too many moons ago. That was an incredible high of a time for the fans… I think everyone saw that as an amazing achievement. I think we can be equally as disappointed with how poor this moment is,” said Rowett.

“The club has to rise again but it has to learn its lessons because it’s certainly been a season of an awful lot of regret.”

Chelsea in free fall

Chelsea floundered once again as Brighton’s Ferdi Kadioglu scored early in the game followed by Jack Hinshelwood and Danny Welbeck’s strikes in the second half in a 3-0 win on Tuesday.

With the three points, Brighton rose above Chelsea to sixth in the standings on 50 points, two ahead of Chelsea, who have won only one of their last nine league games.

The Blues are in danger of missing out on European football next season and manager Liam Rosenior said the performance is nowhere near the level expected.

“It’s nowhere near enough for this club, it’s nowhere near enough. I can’t come out and lie, I’ll tell the truth – that was an unacceptable performance in every area,” he told Sky Sports.

“It’s a really, really difficult night, the most difficult night, not even so far here at this magnificent football club, (but) in my career, because some of the things I was witnessing today I never, ever want to see again.”


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