LEICESTER, England: Getting 22 new signings to gel is proving to be a mightily difficult task for Nottingham Forest manager Steve Cooper.

A 4-0 loss at previously winless Leicester dropped Forest into last place in the English Premier League on Monday, leaving Cooper at risk of becoming the latest top-flight manager to lose his job.

In front of the club’s Thai owner, Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha, who flew in for the match, Leicester earned some respite with a dominant display that ended a six-match losing run.

James Maddison scored two — one being a curling free kick in off the far post — while Harvey Barnes and substitute Patson Daka, with a deft flick from Maddison’s cross, added the others at a rocking King Power Stadium.

The pressure, for now, is off Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers, who looked and sounded like someone who could no longer get the best out of his squad following a 6-2 loss at Tottenham before the international break.

“It was a season-changing game,” Rodgers said, “and to get the performance we did, hopefully we can push on.

“I felt we had a horrendous summer — that is the reality — and it continued into the season. We just didn’t play to the levels ... but we’ve been able to reset that.”

Now, Forest are the league’s crisis club and Cooper is the manager battling to survive.

“I completely understand the situation and the question and respect it, 100 percent,” Cooper said, when asked if his future was in doubt. “But my concern is we have lost another game for this club, not my own situation, because I care more about the club more than my personal circumstances.

“I refuse to criticize the players as a group as it is a fresh challenge.”

After securing a return to the league after a 23-year absence, Forest have been one of Europe’s highest spenders — bringing in a record 22 players at a cost of more than $150 million.

Unsurprisingly, it is taking Cooper some time to discover his best lineup or formation. It remains to be seen how much longer he gets, with Forest replacing Leicester at the bottom and having conceded 16 goals in its last four games. Cooper’s team has lost five in a row.

“Some of the guys have only met each other these last couple of weeks,” Cooper said. “That’s the realism of the situation and something we have to deal with. At the moment we are getting punished because of periods in games where we are not a team.”

Leicester scored three goals in a 10-minute span from the 25th to damage Forest’s fragile confidence. Maddison set the hosts on their way with a shot that deflected in off Scott McKenna.

Two minutes later, Barnes curled a shot into the bottom corner from the edge of the area after Maddison set Jamie Vardy free with a long-range pass.

Maddison completed the flurry of goals with a free kick from 25 meters that kissed the post as it went in, bringing up his 50th strike for Leicester.

Cooper made three halftime changes — including the last of his summer signings, right back Serge Aurier — but things didn’t get any better.

Daka, on for Vardy, rounded off the scoring with a deft flick from Maddison’s driven cross from the right.

It was a stellar all-round display from Maddison, who was disappointed to be overlooked in the latest England squad despite having strong form for much of 2022.

“It’s been a bit of a weird position — we have been bottom of the league but I have almost been as confident as I have ever been in myself. I don’t remember playing better than I have over the past 12 months.

“I’ve got to be of the mindset,” he added, “that I’ve got to force my way in (to the England squad).”

The closest Forest came to scoring was a first-half effort from Taiwo Awoniyi that hit the post, as Leicester kept a first clean sheet of the season.

SUZUKA, JAPAN: Max Verstappen was declared Formula One world champion Sunday after winning a dramatic rain-shortened Japanese Grand Prix.

Red Bull’s Verstappen crossed the line first and he was then awarded the title when second-place finisher Charles Leclerc was given a five-second penalty, dropping him to third.

The result gave Verstappen an unassailable 113-point lead in the championship, making him only the third driver after Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel to clinch the title with four races to spare.

Ferrari’s Leclerc finished the race second in front of Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, but he was hit with a penalty after squeezing Perez wide and leaving the track in a late surge for the line.

Verstappen was informed he had retained his title midway through the post-race TV interview, and even the driver himself was not sure if he had sealed the deal.

“It’s a crazy feeling of course as I didn’t expect it when I crossed the line,” said a shell-shocked Verstappen.

“Was it going to be half points? I didn’t know how many points I was going to get. I was happy with the race we had.”

The race got off to a chaotic start in heavy rain, with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Williams’ Alex Albon exiting on the first lap prompting a safety care.

A red flag soon followed and forced the drivers to wait for more than an hour before the action restarted, again under a safety car.

Verstappen resumed with a lead over Leclerc and Perez, and extended it as conditions gradually improved.

Verstappen has won 12 of 18 races in 2022 and thanked his team for an “incredible” year.

“The first (championship) is a little more emotional, the second one is beautiful,” he said.

“It’s been a special year, and you need to remind yourself as these kind of years you don’t have very often.”

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said Verstappen had “grown” as a driver.

“Carrying that No. 1 this year, he’s done it with a lot of pride,” he said.

BANGKOK: Former top amateur Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra shot a final-round 69 and won the LIV Golf Invitational Bangkok by three strokes over Patrick Reed on Sunday.

Lopez-Chacarra had a three-round, 19-under total of 197 after the storm-delayed finish on the newly opened Stonehill Golf Club course north of Bangkok.

Reed shot a closing 67 while Paul Casey (65), Richard Bland (68) and Sihwan Kim (68) were tied for third, four shots behind Lopez-Chacarra.

Ex-Oklahoma State player Lopez-Chacarra, who turned professional to play on the LIV series, led after the second round and was among three who led after the first.

The two-time first-team All-American was No. 2 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking before he signed a three-year contract with the Saudi-backed LIV tour.

Al-Tai’s Knowledge Musona has been voted Roshn Saudi League player of the week by statistical website SofaScore after a match-winning performance against Al-Khaleej in round six of the season.

The 32-year-old Zimbabwean striker received a rating of 9.4 out of 10 after scoring a hat trick in the 3-0 win on Oct. 6.

The team of the week included Al-Tai goalkeeper Victor Braga, defenders Sultan Al-Ghannam (Al-Nassr), Darko Velkovski (Al-Ettifaq), Hassan Tambakti (Al-Shabab) and Yousef Al-Shammari (Al-Batin), whose two-goal contribution enabled his team to claim their first point of the season.

The midfield is made up of Musab Al-Juwayr (Al-Hilal), Igor Coronado (Al-Ittihad), and Adam Maher (Damac), while in attack Andre Carrillo (Al-Hilal) and Hillal Soudani (Damac) join player-of-the-week Musona.

The next round of the Roshn Saudi League will take place on Monday and Tuesday, with most eyes firmly on leaders Al-Shabab’s clash with champions Al-Hilal coming up first in the week.

ASTANA KAZAKHSTAN: Novak Djokovic reached the final of the ATP tournament in Astana on Saturday as opponent Daniil Medvedev surprisingly retired at the end of the second set.

With the score at 4-6, 7-6 (8/6), Medvedev called it quits before the deciding set, with even Djokovic initially appearing surprised.

“It’s the second time in my life I retired like this with a pulled muscle,” Medvedev said. “So here, on the second point of the tiebreak, I felt a little bit (of a) strange pop in my adductor.

“I first thought maybe it is cramp and after the point I was like, ‘No, probably not a cramp.’ 

“And during the tiebreak, I felt I can play like five, 10 more points but that’s it. If I play one more set, you can do it, but you can probably miss half a year instead of one month.”

Djokovic will face Stefanos Tsitsipas in Sunday’s final as he bids for a 90th ATP title.

The 21-time Grand Slam champion has won seven of his nine meetings with the Greek, including in last year’s French Open final.

Medvedev became the first player to take a set off Djokovic in a singles event since Nick Kyrgios in the Wimbledon final.

Djokovic levelled a dramatic match, in which both players were near their very best, in a tense tiebreak.

But Medvedev signalled that he could not continue, sending Djokovic into his 128th ATP final.

“It was such a close match, particularly in the second set,” added Djokovic of the battle between two former world No. 1s.

“I would probably say he was a better player on the court in both sets.

“I was fighting and trying to find a way. I found a way to win the second, but I’m just sad for the tournament and for these people who were enjoying the battle, and for Daniil, that it had to end this way.”

Earlier, third seed Tsitsipas beat Andrey Rublev 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 to reach his sixth final of the season.

“It was not easy, being a set down,” said Tsitsipas. “To have to deal with a very good opponent on the other side of the net made it an extremely physical battle.

“I am pleased with myself for being so determined to make it work so well.”

A break in the opening game of the match proved enough to give fifth seed Rublev the first set.

But Tsitsipas, who saved five of six break points in the match, improved as the tie went on and he made his move in the 10th game of the second set to force a decider.

The 24-year-old was rock solid again in the third, wrapping up victory after two hours and 10 minutes to take his head-to-head record against Rublev to 6-4.

“My mentality kind of changed,” Tsitsipas added. “I played with more of an aggressive game style and didn’t have anything by luck.”

OSTRAVA, CZECH REPUBLIC: World No. 1 Iga Swiatek racked up her 60th win of the season on Saturday with a three-set victory over Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova to reach the Ostrava WTA final.

French and US Open champion Swiatek won 7-6 (7/5), 2-6, 6-4 and equalled Caroline Wozniacki, the last player to win 60 matches in a single season in 2017.

The 21-year-old Pole’s two-hour and 38-minute win also gave her a 10th successive victory and a spot in her eighth final of the year.

Swiatek is 10-1 in WTA Tour singles finals, with her only loss coming to Slovenia’s Polona Hercog in her first career championship match at Lugano in 2019.

Barbora Krejcikova also needed three sets to make the final, surviving a 17-ace barrage from Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina to triumph 3-6, 7-6 (74), 6-4 in two hours and 21 minutes.

“I know that the final is going to be tough, and Barbora plays a little bit differently than my opponent today, so tactically I have to be ready,” said Swiatek.

“It doesn’t really matter for me if it’s a final or any other round, I’m just going to give it my all.”

Former French Open champion Krejcikova, who captured the Tallinn title last weekend, is on an eight-match winning streak.

The Czech will have her work cut out in Sunday’s final with the Polish star coming out on top in Miami and Rome last year.

“It’s amazing what I’ve achieved in the last two weeks, so I feel really happy and really glad with the way I’m performing so far,” said Krejcikova.