Leicester 2, Brighton 2, positives and negatives, player ratings and match report, Premier League fixture

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We knew this would be a tricky fixture, no doubt about it. Brighton is a well organized team and was 5th before this round in Premier League. We had our hopes high to see Will Alves in action today, but for some reason he was not even named on the bench, with Jordan Ayew the player Ruud van Nistelrooy chose to replace Facundo Bounanotte.

It all looked a bleek affair from start, Leicester not really getting any momentum, but still Brighton also looked as if they came with some sort of respect, and had not the top gear, we were all expecting.

Early on a few soft attempts from both sides, but all stopped and in some way hopes were that Leicester could get something from this game. Jordan Ayew struggled to keep Brighton right back Tariq Lamptey on distance, and the Ghana international was not up to that job at all. Strange to not have swopped McAteer and Ayew, having a possible chance to stop the highly gifted Brighton full back.

No surprise to see this becoming a vital point from the game, when Tariq Lamptey managed to free himself easily from Jordan Ayew, and curle his shot in a perfect curve over Mads Hermansen, Brighton were 1-0 up after 37 minutes.

From then on Leicester managed to get a bit higher in the field and put a bit of pressure on Brighton, but not enough to scare The Seagulls much, Brighton kept their 1-0 lead out the first half.

Fighting spirit! 🥊

Delivered by @bcgame #LEIBHA pic.twitter.com/nw4Z8J1KKZ
— Leicester City (@LCFC) December 8, 2024

We would have liked to have seen a change as early as after 45 minutes, but Ruud kept Jordan Ayew on the pitch until the 62nd minute, taking him off and replacing him with Bobby De-Cordova Reid, what a change that would turn out to become. Stephy Mavididi was also put on the field in the 62nd minute, coming on for Kasey McAteer, who also a had game under par. Oliver Skipp replaced Wilfred Ndidi in the 52nd minute. Ndidi had to leave the field with an injury.

Before things became good, Brighton scored their second goal in the 79th minute. We all thought this was a definate lost case, but in some way Jamie Vardy wanted it different. The last minutes of this football match tells a massive story of bravery, fearless factor and never say die attittude, great to watch.

Vardy in the 86th minute, pulled one back when he latched on to James Justin’s deflected cross to slot across visiting keeper Bart Verbruggen. Then in stoppage time, Leicester’s supporters were ecstatic, as the captain and club legend, rolled a pass across for Bobby De Cordova-Reid to tap home a late leveller.

Leicester, now five points clear of the relegation places, as this point could be very crucial and one special in the fight for survival. Jannik Vestergaard and Bilal El Khannouss were both replaced after 81 minutes, putting on Patson Daka and Wout Faes. as the two subs came on the field for that massive fight back.

Positives
- Jamie Vardy scoring and assisting with two wonderfull interactions, JV what a diamond
- Ruud keeping Vardy on the field, so vital for that point, that was crucial
- Conor Coady again played to solid standard, he shows how good he can be, lovely to see
- Again solid peformance from Bouba Soumare
- Bobby De-Cordova Reid showing his worth with a solid, coming from the bench, performance
- Fighting hard and never say die attitude, just fantastic
- Stephy Mavididi in a way changed the game with his involvement, good peformance
Negatives
- We would have loved to see Will Alves in the squad, and even in the team, but he was not involved
- Ruud playing Jordan Ayew up against Tariq Lamptey, sadly that became a major nagative for Leicester in this game
- Kasey McAteer must step up and trust his pace, not go on as he did today, this was not good enough

Player Ratings: Hermansen 6, Justin 6, Kristiansen 6, Vestergaard 6, Coady 7, Ndidi 6, Soumare 7, Ayew 4, El Khannouss 5, Vardy 9, McAteer 5, Subs: Mavididi, Daka, De Cordova-Reid, Faes, Skipp