Leicester boss Gary Rowett lamented his side’s “lack of quality” after a 1-0 defeat at Fratton Park pushed them to the brink of relegation to League One.
The Foxes went down to Portsmouth substitute Ibane Bowat’s scrambled second-half goal from a corner and need a minor miracle to stay up, only 10 years after winning the Premier League.
Leicester’s shocking relegation could be confirmed as early as Tuesday night, and boss Rowett said: “It is disappointing and I think it’s been rinse and repeat of what I’ve said after the last five games.
“It was a very physical game and Portsmouth made it very difficult. They want to smother you. I thought we actually dealt with it okay and I didn’t think there was much in the game.
“I think a lack of fight is something that’s been labelled at the team over the course of a season. I don’t know whether that’s fair but I think we showed a lack of quality.
“I thought we showed a lack of composure. I thought we showed a lack of toughness to do the basics in the one moment where we concede from a set-piece.
“I can say we’ve got belief. I think we have to show that in our performance and show that in our results.”
Bobby De Cordova Reid’s shot from an acute angle on the stroke of half-time was the only effort either side managed on target in a terrible first half.
Millenic Alli and Adrian Segecic both had good chances to put Pompey in front early in the second half.
The hosts took the lead on 63 minutes when Bowat bundled the ball home at the back post from a Segecic corner.
While Leicester are staring at third-tier football next season, Portsmouth are now all but safe after a run of three straight wins without conceding a goal.
Home boss John Mousinho said: “This does feel like a massive step to safety as we are 10 points ahead of Leicester now.
“We are a little bit disappointed with the performance and it wasn’t a very good game of football, not one for the purists, but we deserved the win.
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“I know the home fans don’t care. It was just one of those games with the injuries early on it was so disrupted. The first half was stop-start and there was hardly any football played.
“The goal summed up the game to be honest, a scrappy winner that we squeezed in at the back post.
“It is absolutely huge for us. We needed to give ourselves something because of the games we’ve got coming up, and how difficult everything is at this stage of the season.
“This run will define the season and it’s good that Leicester are one of the sides that cannot catch us.”
