There is no shortage of big-name teams who have started the Premier League season less convincingly than they would have liked to.

In a meeting of two of those teams, Manchester United recently beat Liverpool to push the latter into the lower half of the table, while Chelsea have won just once in their opening three games, and been hammered by Leeds in a result that would have shaken the football betting world given the short odds on the Blues to win that meeting.

And if you click here, you’ll see that Aston Villa are favourites to beat West Ham – but their recent form doesn’t hold out much hope for that.  

In among these poor results for teams used to playing for the top honours, another club with a solid recent pedigree has started the season poorly.

2016 champions Leicester City sit in the bottom three with one point from three games. For a side that was disappointed to finish fifth in two of the last three seasons, this is a concerning dip in form.

And while there are plenty of sides ahead of them in the Premier League betting to be relegated, it’s getting harder and harder to suggest that they’re in a false position.

Some people may still contend that they will climb the table and finish in a respectable place – but is that misguided?  

No new players, and current ones are set to leave 

Leicester have turned down a £70million bid from Chelsea for defender Wesley Fofana, who is arguably the club’s best player.

They’ve also shaken off two bids from Newcastle for James Maddison, whose midfield playmaking has created countless goals for the club.

In all, assets worth up to £150million could yet leave the King Power before the start of the season, and would join long-time keeper and club captain Kasper Schmeichel in doing so.

According to Brendan Rodgers, new players can’t be signed until funds are brought in from sales.

vBut with a week left in the transfer window, who’s he going to be able to sign if that money does come in?  

Shallow squad gives cause for concern

In each of the most recent seasons, Leicester have experienced serious injury problems, losing the guts of their midfield and defence.

That has made clear that investment is needed in those areas of the field, but it seems more likely that Fofana, Maddison and Youri Tielemans could leave the club without much of a clue as to who could come in to replace them.

If another injury crisis starts – which has to be considered a possibility – will Premier League betting start to point to a troubling future for Rodgers and Leicester?  

Is Rodgers the man to right the ship? 

Brendan Rodgers was, at one point, the man considered favourite in football betting to replace Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at Manchester United.

That seems like it was a while ago now, because at this point there is a sense that most Leicester City fans would be happy to see him leave.

It’s not just that Rodgers is a good manager when he has ample resources to work with, as he showed at Liverpool, Celtic, and initially in Leicester.

There is also a feeling that he pushes responsibility for poor results and bad form onto players, when it is a basic principle of football management to shield your players from criticism.

In short, Rodgers is good to have around when the going is good – but may not be the one to fix this crisis.