Ruud awakening: What Leicester's new boss will have to improve if he is to keep the Foxes up

Ruud van Nistelrooy is poised to become Leicester City's fifth permanent manager in the last 19 months and the Dutchman has a big job on his hands if he is to keep the Foxes in the Premier League.

Van Nistelrooy will arrive in the East Midlands with his new team only a single point clear of the bottom three following Saturday's 2-1 defeat to Chelsea.

Saturday's loss will have been especially painful for the Leicester hierarchy because it was masterminded by former Foxes boss Enzo Maresca, who guided the Foxes to the Championship title last season before leaving for Stamford Bridge in the summer.

Defeat to the Blues spelled the end for Maresca's replacement Steve Cooper, who was sacked after only five months and 12 league games at the helm.

Keeping a promoted side in the top flight is an increasingly difficult task with the gap between the second tier and Premier League continuing to widen.

All three promoted teams went straight back down last season and Leicester have run into many of the same problems that Sheffield United, Luton and Burnley did.

The Foxes have been struggling on both sides of the ball this term, recording just one clean sheet in 12 league games as well as taking the fewest shots (115) of any top-flight team, illustrating the size of the task facing Van Nistelrooy.

Things could be even worse were it not for the performances of goalkeeper Mads Hermansen, who has some of the best underlying metrics of any stopper in the division.

Leicester's summer recruitment was hampered by financial restraints and the signings they did make have yet to make a major impact. Indeed, big-money signings Oliver Skipp, Bilal El Khannouss and Abdul Fatawu have started just 14 games between them.

Van Nistelrooy arrives with a big reputation but one that undoubtedly stems more from his achievements as a player than a coach.

He did well in his fledgling spell as Manchester United's interim manager recently and he also won the Dutch Cup in a one-season stay at PSV Eindhoven two seasons ago. 

However, the Eindhoven club also finished seven points adrift of champions Feyenoord in the Eredivisie that season despite boasting an extremely talented squad containing Netherlands internationals Xavi Simons, Joey Veerman and Cody Gakpo and Noni Madueke and Jarrad Branthwaite, who have both gone on to win England caps.

Van Nistelrooy will not have that depth of talent to work with at the King Power and he will need to show that he can improve the players he has because a January spending spree seems unlikely.

Tightening things up at the back will be his first challenge. Only fellow promoted sides Southampton and Ipswich have allowed a higher expected-goals figure than Leicester (23.3), who have also conceded the third-most goals in this season's Premier League.

It was all about scoring goals for Van Nistelrooy in his playing days but keeping them out will be his priority as he attempts to keep Leicester in the top flight.

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