Another game without a clear view on what to expect. Turf Moor is not the most glamour place on earth and we know difficult to get anything from there. The line-up was again without Wilfred Ndidi (injured) and Youri Tielemans (resting on the bench), Ben Chilwell also missed the game with Christian Fuchs replacing him.
Leicester had the advantage from start and pressed Burnley back with a number chances and after 33 minutes Leicester took the lead from a well organized attack, Praet finding Barnes and Vardy running in the opposite direction opening space for Harvey, who just took his chance and scoring a nice goal via Burnley goalkeeper Pope.
Leicester were the better team and good to see Harvey Barnes lively against his dads former club. His did Paul played for Burnley from 1996 to 1998 scoring 30 goals in 65 league appearances. Paul spent almost 20 years in league football, born in Leicester, but never appeared for the club that his son now is in Premier League action with.
Nampalys Mendy looked ok alongside Dennis Praet and James Maddison in midfield, and no one really had any thought of this changing to the opposite and seeing Burnley as the winner in the end.
The 2nd half never got off as well as you would expect, but still Leicester were the force and not really threatened much by Burnley, but as we all know set pieces are someting The Clarets can and be seen to their advantage. Poorly defending inside the penalty box on a corner made Chris Wood a hero again, fighting of Leicester defenders and scoring from a good header against his former club.
It was against all play, but Leicester as against Southampton, struggled to get through the Burnley wall of defenders and midfielders, but when Harvey Barnes was teared down inside the penalty area after 64 minutes we all had high hopes again.
Jamie Vardy went forward to take the penalty, but surprisingly this was a poor one and Pope saved it easily. Jamie Vardy also had another chance a bit later to score, but he just shot the ball straight at Pope again.
Leicester kept the pressure and tried to score, but instead Burnley got the winning goal in the 79th minute, with a nice shot from Ashley Westwood, and again Leicester were beaten by a team in the lower levels of the league table.
A bit of pressure until the end never materialized in anything and it was a bit frustrating to the see this team of good talent not really performing to their best. But again a difficult period of the year with a lot of games coming up and as we all know if Brendan Rodgers can keep Leicester in the top four and also be able to get through in the cups, no one will complain in the end.
- Positives:
- Taking the lead
- Harvey Barnes looked bright today, scoring a goal and getting a penalty
- Good possession
- Mendy with a good first half
- Negatives:
- Not able to keep the lead against a weaker team
- Vardy missing chances and of course that poor penalty
- Tielemans not playing, can’t be that tired, coming on a bit late
- Rotation, not really getting the best out of this team
- Not using all three subs
- Player Ratings: Schmeichel 6, Pereira 6, Soyuncu 6, Evans 6, Fuchs 6, Praet 6, Mendy 6, Maddison 5, Perez 5, Vardy 5, Barnes 7, Subs: Iheanacho, Tielemans
Match Stats (H/A):
- Possession: 42 / 58
- Corners: 4 / 5
- Shots on target: 2 / 8
- Fouls: 13 / 7
- Offsides: 1 / 0
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