Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers again made surprises in his line-up giving starts to Harvey Barnes and Ademola Lookman, but kept James Maddison on the bench. Changed from a three men back line to four again and it was a bit shaky from start. Ihenacho and Daka were both left on the bench.
Leeds had the best of chances and scored first from a Raphinha free kick passing everyone including goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, 1-0 after 26 minutes. Harvey Barnes showed early on that he was eager to get something out of this game, taking on opponents and really trying, then to see the highlight of this game after 28 minutes was fantastic.
Leicester came back with this wonderful goal and took more and more charge of the game, but was not able to get anything more out of it as the first half ebbed out with a draw at half time.
Leicester did have their opportunities and especially Ademola Lookman was sloppy early on with passes and not taking his opportunities when they appeared.
Embed from Getty ImagesLeicester kept their momentum and played Leeds into a lower position, sadly we did see Brendan Rodgers making strange substitutions, bringing on Daniel Amartey for Harvey Barnes. Barnes got a knock earlier in the second half so to see him go off was not the surprise, it was the fact that Daniel Amartey came on, making the team more defensive.
Ademola Lookman was again involved and thought he had given Leicester the lead after pushing the ball in the net from a Vardy header, but his concentration level is not on top and he should have avoided the offside, and with VAR your toes are always seen.
Leeds also had a sloppy game and Tielemans came close after Cooper had missed and slided, luckily goalkeeper Meslier came out and stopped the attempt from the Belgian international.
Embed from Getty ImagesLeicester had their best players in the back four with Jonny Evans again making a solid impact. Pereira and Castagne are also doing their job in the back line, Soyuncu among the better players as well, so not a defensive problem this time.
A draw at Elland Road is never a bad result and coming from this event with a point in the bag is ok on the day, not that it was a very impressive performance.
James Maddison came on, and had a positive impact as well, Ndidi back in the line-up for this fixture, missing a month of games, good to see him back, but of course not as involved as he would be in his best form.
Strangely Iheanacho or Daka were not involved today, both players can score goals but today it was not interest from the manager to bring them on, he had other ideas.
Embed from Getty ImagesLeicester will take on Chelsea at home in their next game and again a difficult fixture. This is a set up and project in decline and too many players are injured or lacking the quality needed to bring the points on board to keep this a positive challenge.
- Positives
- Harvey Barnes scoring and trying, what a wonderful strike
- Being able to bring home a point on a difficult day
- Evans looks fit again and ready for the challenge, best Leicester player on the pitch today
- Negatives:
- Sloppy at times, no real plan and all changes makes it difficult to cope
- No forwards coming in from the bench
- Ndidi getting a yellow
- Lookman looks unfocused and not really making a difference
- Strange move bringing on Amartey for Barnes when you chase a lead
Player Ratings: Schmeichel 6, Pereira 6, Castagne 6, Evans 7, Soyuncu 6, Soumare 6, Tielemans 6, Ndidi 6, Vardy 6, Barnes 7, Lookman 5, Subs: Amartey, D-Hall, Maddison
Embed from Getty Images- Leicester City, Man of the Match
- Jonny Evans
Match Stats (H/A):
- Possession: 56 / 44
- Corners: 10 / 5
- Shots on target: 5 / 3
- Fouls: 12 / 5
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