Leicester City sack manager Steve Cooper

This comes after the Premier League club's 2-1 defeat to Chelsea on Saturday afternoon.

The newly-promoted Foxes hired former Swansea and Nottingham Forest boss Cooper as Enzo Maresca's replacement in the summer after the Italian moved to Stamford Bridge.

Leicester currently sit 16th in the Premier League, two points outside the relegation zone, but have not won any of their past four league games since beating bottom-of-the-table Southampton in October.

In that time Leicester have lost 3-1 at home to Forest, drawn 1-1 away to ten-man Ipswich, and suffered a 3-0 away to Manchester United, as well as a 5-2 loss to United in the League Cup.

Although their goalscoring record is decent, defensive frailty has been a particular issue for Leicester this season, with their only Premier League clean sheet coming in a 1-0 victory over Bournemouth last month.

That defeat at home to Chelsea was the final straw, with Leicester announcing Cooper's dismissal on Sunday afternoon.

A club statement said: "Leicester City Football Club has parted company with Steve Cooper, who leaves his position as First Team Manager with immediate effect.

"Assistant Manager Alan Tate and First Team Coach and Analyst Steve Rands have also left the Club. Steve, Alan and Steve depart with our thanks for their contribution during their time with the Club and with our best wishes for the future.

"Men's First Team training will be overseen by First Team Coach Ben Dawson, supported by coaches Danny Alcock and Andy Hughes, as the Club begins the process of appointing a new manager, which we hope to conclude as soon as possible."

Leicester will visit Brentford next weekend before hosting West Ham and then Brighton.

Maresca led Leicester to an immediate return from the Championship as league winners last season, claiming 97 points and dominating the table for much of the campaign.

Cooper was appointed in June having been out of work since being dismissed by Forest last December, to be replaced by Nuno Espirito Santo.

A former England U16s and U17s manager, Cooper took his first steps in club management with Swansea City in 2019 but left the club two years later after losing the Championship play-off final to Brentford. He subsequently took Forest up into the Premier League via the play-offs the following year, beating Huddersfield Town 1-0 in the final.

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