Brendan Rodgers fielded a team with few surprises. Hamza Choudhury keeping his place, with Harvey Barnes left on the bench. So it was a team perfectly balanced to take on an opponent like Chelsea.
This was all well balanced and it the right shape playing such a great opponent as Chelsea, and the rest was really down to quality man to man, as we all would probably believe would give Sarri’s team an advantage.
The surprise of Hamza Choudhury returning to the first team worked brilliantly and despite being out in the dark for such a long time, he was on from start alongside Youri Tielemans and Wilfred Ndidi, taking full control in the engine room.
Chelsea wasted no time as they went straight for goal after a just a few minutes surprising the Leicester City defense with a great ball through to Ross Barkley who’s attempt was fantastically saved by Kasper Schmeichel.
Chelsea continues to press City backwards, Gonzalo Iguain miss a great oppertunity on an open goal. Jamie Vardy could also have scored almost at the break, but instead of going full speed on goal, he waited for Tielemans and the pass was not accurate enough so the chance was waisted.
Hamza Choudhury worked great alongside Wilfred Ndidi taking of the press and managed to keep City competitive during first half, going into the break with a clean sheet and equal after 45 minutes.
2nd half made it clear that both teams wanted to win this game, but never really managed to get the chances to score that vital goal. A great run by Ben Chilwell down the left side could have given City the lead, but as so many times before the young England man is not clever enough in the final of his offense, just playing the ball in on chance, instead of making a quality and correct pass to a player in position.
Youri Tielemans came close just before the end, but his shot went wide and it all ended in a 0-0 draw, which in all days of the year is a good result against Chelsea, even at home.
To be present at the stadium is always a thrill and to see the players, staff and owners joining out in a great “walk around” was fantastic to watch.
Danny Simpson and Shinji Okazaki were both given their time on the field, a great gesture from Brendan Rodgers, to be able to set a great “stamp” on their farewell to the Leicester City “family”.
To see the end of a difficult season, with the terrible accident and death of Vichai as the big black mark coming to your mind, it was good to finish it all off with this nice gathering around the stadium and again unite “the family” of Leicester City.
Leicester played the game in their new home shirt for the next season, the kit looks good, and going back to the classical blue shirt, white shorts and blue stockings makes it all look good, though the best season in the history of the club were in all blue.
Focusing on the game, here are the positives, negatives and stats from the game all summed up below.
- Positives:
- Vardy close to score, setting up and being among the best
- Schmeichel making some class saves, keeping a clean sheet
- Pereira the best in a great defensive quartet
- Choudhury growing, showing class as a defensive midfield maestro
- Tielemans again trying to score, getting to clear chances
- Keeping a top three team under pressure at home
- No yellows against a top three team
- Negatives:
- Not able to score from a number of clear chances
- Fantastic runs from Chilwell, but passing the ball in the final is a challenge
- Player Ratings: Schmeichel 7. Pereira 8, Chilwell 6, Evans 7, Maguire 6, Ndidi 6, Tielemans 6, Albrighton 6, Vardy 7, Maddison 6, Choudhury 7, Subs: Barnes, Simpson, Okazaki
Match Stats: H/A
- Possession: 43 / 57
- Corners: 4 / 5
- Shots on target: 5 / 4
- Shots wide: 4 / 7
- Fouls: 9 / 7
- Offsides: 1 / 2
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