Leicester 2, Crystal Palace 1, positives and negatives, player ratings, and match report

Brendan Rodgers did field the same eleven as against West Bromwich and hopes were that we would see Leicester coming out in a blistering storm, but it was not that explosive from start and after 12 minutes Youri Tielemans lost the ball in the upper middle of the field and Eze gets the ball, finds Wilfried Zaha, and then suddenly Leicester are 1-0 behind.

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We knew that we would see a domination in the game, and possession was not the problem, with both Jamie Vardy and Kelechi Iheanacho up front and a midfield that would push Crystal Palace back in the field and that certainly happened.

Despite that pressure, few chances were made and Crystal Palace managed to keep their clean sheet, finishing first half as leaders, with that single goal.

Intentions were clear going out second half, and we didn’t have to wait for long with a grand assist from Kelechi Iheanacho and a wonderful strike from Timothy Castagne, Leicester were equal after 50 minutes and they just pushed on hard.

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Being patient and showing solidity in the back was a key, and when Brendan Rodgers perfectly replaced Luke Thomas and James Maddison with Marc Albrighton and Ayoze Perez, we got the team a bit further up the field and when Kelechi Iheanacho fired off a dynamite in the 80th minute, it was just fantastic, again.

Leicester kept it all controlled until the end of the game and could have scored even more, with Jamie Vardy and Ayoze Perez both in great positions to score, but just missed out and everything ebbed out with that scoreline 2-1.

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Leicester did what we expected, though it all became a bit more difficult that we would have liked, and of course great credit to Kelechi Iheanacho who showed again what a fantastic finisher he is and how fantastic he has taken his chance and really is blossoming heavily at the moment.

This was Kelechi’s 14th goal in 14 games, which just is a fantastic tally and the Nigerian international must be both relieved and happy after a bit of struggle since joining the club as far back as 2017, signed by Craig Shakespeare!

Looking at the table is a bit of fun as the tally of points have moved up to 62 points and still in third and starting to get the gab needed to be safe and hopefully getting one of those Champions League places, again fantastic.

• Positives
  • Kelechi Iheanacho with a brilliant game, scoring a screamer, perfect performance
  • Jamie Vardy working hard and trying his best, almost today, keep it going
  • Getting back and winning is an extreme act and cleverly done
  • Brendan Rodgers managed in the best way possible today
• Negatives:
  • A bit sloppy at times, not really able to rule it all in midfield
  • Getting a goal behind
  • Maddison, not really at his best today

• Player Ratings: Schmeichel 6, Castagne 7, Soyuncu 7, Evans 7, Fofana 7, Tielemans 6, Ndidi 6, Iheanacho 9, Vardy 7, Maddison 5, Thomas 5 Subs: Albrighton, Perez

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• Leicester City, Man of the Match
  • Kelechi Iheanacho

Match Stats (H/A):

• Possession: 67 / 33
• Corners: 7 / 2
• Shots on target: 5 / 2
• Fouls: 13 / 12