23 November 2024
Leicester 1 Chelsea 2
Leicester welcomed Enzo Maresca back to the King Power Stadium as he arrived with his new look Chelsea team. The hosts were keen to put some daylight between themselves and the bottom three while The Blues are looking to get back into the Champions League, something which is of paramount importance to the West London outfit to offset their transfer spending.
What will be of concern to fans of The Foxes so far this season is the tactical approach to games. All too often they are looking to contain from the kick-off. That makes you wonder whether they came into this campaign ill-equipped for life in the top-flight. Having not ventured into the transfer market much in the summer, they lack players able to cause problems to sides at this level.
Chelsea started on the front foot and Fernandez got to the byline but looked to drill a cross into the six-yard box. Caicedo was frustrated with his decision as he was in acres of space for the cut-back. From the resulting corner, Leicester struggled to clear their lines and kept on inviting more pressure upon themselves far too often.
Faes once again tried an outlandish clearance and the ball fell to the feet of Jackson whose strike on the outside of his right boot beat Hermansen and give the visitors the lead. It was no more than Chelsea had deserved as this game had been one-way traffic from the outset. If anything, The Blues could already have been ahead by more.
Ndidi was then booked for a rash challenge on Palmer where his studs ran down the back of the Achilles of the Chelsea playmaker. The referee brandished a yellow card but the visitors wanted more action than this. After a VAR review, they felt there was nothing in the challenge to warrant upgrading it to a red card at all.
Madueke was the next player to have a sight of goal for Maresca’s side. He cut in from the right onto his left foot and looked to bend one in the far corner. Hermansen made a good save at full-stretch to palm it behind for a corner. The Leicester keeper was single-handedly keeping his side in this game, while The Foxes had offered nothing at all as an attacking threat.
In the build-up to the chance Soumare had thrown himself into a challenge on Felix which left the Chelsea player crumpled on the floor. Once again little action was taken but the visitors were suffering from ‘the boy who cried wolf’ syndrome. Often their players are rolling around on the floor like they have suffered a career-ending injury from little contact whatsoever.
It wasn’t until the closing stages of the first-half that Leicester ventured forward at all. McAteer cut in from the right and let a left-footed shot go which narrowly missed the far post. Sanchez was worried about the effort and was scrambling across his goal but had got nowhere near it. Finally the home fans had something to get excited about.
Into the second-half and Chelsea were finding it all too easy to play through the Leicester press. Felix ran towards goal before feeding the ball into the path of Jackson. His shot towards the far corner was well saved by Hermansen but both Madueke and Palmer were queueing up for it at the back post. Incredibly, Palmer’s goal-bound effort struck his teammate on the line and went out for a goal kick.
The Chelsea attacker saw the funny side of things as he could not believe the ball had not ended up in the back of the net. On another day, The Blues could have paid the price for all these missed chances but The Foxes were really struggling to threaten Sanchez’s goal. That said, you still felt Maresca’s side needed another goal to secure the three points.
As a Leicester attack broke down, Justin remained on the floor claiming he was fouled. The visitors opted not to put the ball out for him to receive treatment and went on the counter-attack. Cucurella lifted a cross into the box and Jackson’s header was well saved by Hermansen. As the rebound ballooned into the air, Fernandez was there to head home and double Chelsea’s lead.
This left a bitter taste with The Foxes’ players and fans but nothing in the rules says the visitors were obliged to put the ball out. Mavididi started to cause some problems for the visitors and as he skipped past Fofana, he ended up in a heap on the floor. The referee waved away protests for a penalty and VAR saw no reason to change the decision.
Moments later, De Cordova-Reid went through before being bundled over by Lavia. The flag immediately went up for offside against the Leicester man. After another VAR review, it was adjudged that the player was actually onside and the penalty was awarded. Finally the hosts had a decision go their way in this game.
Ayew stepped up and stroked the ball past Sanchez deep into added time but it felt like there was not enough time for The Foxes to get anything from this game. It was a disappointing result for the hosts and the owners then decided to relieve Steve Cooper of his duties a few days later. Now Leicester need to find someone who can perform the miracle of keeping them in this league.
From what we have seen so far this season, they need to seriously spend in the transfer window if they want to secure their Premier League status. Despite winning the Championship last season, the gulf between the two leagues is bigger than ever. If you want to hold your own in the top-flight, you need to invest in your squad to do so.
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