Leicester City are on the brink of relegation to League One and could go down as early as Tuesday night.
The Foxes need to beat promotion-chasing Hull City to give themselves any hope of survival, but, even then, results elsewhere this week could still seal their fate.
Relegation would complete one of the most unwanted full-circle moments in sport, with Leicester's 5,000-1 Premier League title win of 2016 coming just seven years after they ended a one-year stay in League One.
The demise that has them on the cusp of dropping back to the third tier a decade on from being crowned English champions, and just five years after lifting the FA Cup, has been alarming.
It would be their second relegation in as many seasons and third in four years, having previously yo-yoed between the Premier League and Championship.
Defeat by relegation rivals Portsmouth on Saturday has the Foxes eight points adrift of safety with just nine points left to play for.
The situation is dire and has Leicester fans angry – with one exchange with supporters provoking Leicester's former England international Harry Winks to return a foul-mouthed verbal volley at supporters as he boarded the bus back from Fratton Park at the weekend.
Foxes' goalkeeper Asmir Begovic, speaking to BBC Radio Leicester without knowledge of his team-mates confrontation outside the ground, said he “can understand the frustrations” of supporters.
The former Chelsea, Bournemouth and Stoke City goalkeeper says frustrations about this season are "shared" by the players – although acrimony among fans runs deeper than dismal results produced by a squad with one of the biggest pay packets in the division.
Begovic says Leicester "will keep fighting" and argues that "everything is still possible" with three games left.
"The belief is still there," the former Bosnia-Herzegovina international said.
"It's a big game against Hull, and if you win that, things can look a lot different. Of course we need a bit of luck and a bit of fortune on our side, but we keep pushing as much as we can."
Do Leicester have any chance of survival?
Begovic's defiant words about relegation could be interpreted as fanciful for a side that could have relegation confirmed in four of the next five days.
If they beat Hull on Tuesday, their fight to beat the drop would be prolonged.
But wins for West Bromwich Albion on Tuesday and Blackburn on Wednesday, as well as a Charlton draw, would still be enough to send them down midweek.
Even if those results go in the Foxes' favour, anything but a win against promotion-chasing Millwall on Friday will send Leicester down.
But with their relegation rivals all in action on Saturday, it would only take results elsewhere to condemn them to League One on the weekend.
To simplify what they need to stay up, Leicester – a side that has won just one match in three months – has to win all three remaining games and need a multitude of results to favour them in the next 12 days.
'I don't know who they are?'
Leicester City fans have feared for a while now the Foxes would be going down.
The six-point penalty the club was hit with this season for historical spending breaches has undoubtedly hurt the side, but even without the punishment, they would be in the bottom three.
There have been protests from sections of supporters for owner Khun Aiyawatt "Top" Srivaddhanaprabha to sell the club and for sporting director Jon Rudkin to leave, but it was the players who bore the overwhelming brunt of criticism at Portsmouth.
Chants of "You're not fit to wear the shirt" rung out from the travelling fans at Fratton Park.
A number of supporters that BBC East Midlands Today spoke to afterwards said the club should turn to its youngsters to see out the season, and argued that a number of high-earning, high-profile players should be moved on in the summer.
Foxes fan Nimesh Patel said: "This is the worst I've seen them play in a long time," when asked what he thought of the latest defeat.
"I don't know who they are," he continued. "There is no soul, no compassion, no urgency and no real play or creativity. And for us to come hundreds of miles to watch this is atrocious."
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