A few worries in front of the game with no Ben Chilwell in the side, of course difficult to see how a home debut for Frank Lampard would turn out and as well seeing Leicester City in a pink outfit for the first time in a Premier League venue.
A fun fact is that Leicester have played at Stamford Bridge in a number of different colors with all green, all red and several other odd change colors have been used over the years. Those colors have not been of any luck, as Leicester City often have lost using those odd colors.
The start of the game was also shocking from a Leicester point of view, with Chelsea just running at the City players with all their energy, even been playing 120 minutes on Wednesday didn’t look to have affected them at all.
A fatal and very seldom mistake from Wilfred Ndidi very early on in the game resultet in Mason Mount snapping the ball and fired a shot away inside the penalty box that Kasper Schmeichel had no chance to catch.
Chelsea were 1-0 up at half time, but as the first 45 minutes came to an end, Leicester were really back in the game and had put more and more pressure on Chelsea. The play was equaled and especially in midfield Hamza Choudhury and Wilfred Ndidi stood out massively. Vardy and Maddison also clicked and showed their skill.
In the back first half, all players had a descent performance, with Christian Fuchs slotting fantastically well in as cover for an injured Ben Chiwell. Caglar Soyuncu and Jonny Evans stopped all attempts from Chelsea and it wasn’t really a lot of shots on Schmeichel.
2nd half, wow, what a grand performance from Leicester City, and if that is the way they will “play in pink” then just keep it on for the rest of the season, what a display.
James Maddison had a magnificant 2nd half and his corner after 67 minutes found Wilfred Ndidi who just had jumped out everyone and that clinical touch, made it impossible for Kepa to save, Leicester City were even.
Jamie Vardy was lively up front and did everything to try to score, and had his opportunities but couldn’t find the net. Another chance for James Maddison as well when he trolled and dribbled the whole Chelsea defense, not able to get that final finishing touch, but instead the ball flew up in the stands.
Dennis Praet came on and made his debut for Leicester City, he is in the attacking way of his play as good as Youri Tielemans, and the two will be tearing defenses apart in the Premier League this season, they have all the ability to do so.
Both teams entertained and despite that great 2nd half performance from Leicester a draw might have seen as two lost points, but all in all coming away from Stamford Bridge with a draw and at the same time really playing some outstanding football, makes fans happy and we can look forward to new games.
- Positives:
- Possession, 51%, at Stamford Bridge, pretty impressive
- Ndidi getting his revenge, scoring with a top class finish
- The work rate of the midfield, just superb
- Defensively it looks good, Soyuncu slotting in well
- Fuchs showing what a great player he is, great experience
- Strong subs that made the team better when they came on
- Negatives:
- Not being able to convert from some fantastic chances
- Ndidi’s fatal miss, so early in the game
- Vardy going into the Chelsea offside trap too many times
- Player Ratings: Schmeichel 7. Pereira 6, Fuchs 7, Evans 7, Soyuncu 7, Choudhury 7, Maddison 8, Tielemans 6, Ndidi 7, Vardy 7, Perez 6, Subs: Preat, Albrighton
Match Stats: H/A
- Possession: 49 / 51
- Corners: 4 / 5
- Shots on target: 6 / 2
- Fouls: 9 / 13
- Offsides; 3 / 3
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