Ten-Man Leicester Battle To Wolves Draw
Brendan Rodgers opted to field the same starting XI that drew with Chelsea prior to the winter break, as Jamie Vardy made his 200th Premier League appearance and Harvey Barnes played his 50th game for the Football Club.
Both goalkeepers were forced into making good saves in the opening 15 minutes, with Rui Patrício palming away Youri Tielemans’ deflected effort before Kasper Schmeichel denied Diogo Jota with his legs.
A huge opportunity for City to take the lead in the game fell to Çağlar Söyüncü midway through the first period, when he met James Maddison’s free-kick with a header that flew straight into the hands of Patrício.
On the stroke of half-time, meanwhile, Wolves, who just moments earlier went close through Raúl Jiménez, thought they had taken the lead after Willy Boly headed home from inside the box, only for his effort to be ruled out by VAR for an offside in the build-up.
After the interval, two goalscoring chances in as many minutes fell to Leicester, with Ayoze Pérez seeing a strike blocked before Ricardo Pereira’s excellent skill resulted in him firing wide of the mark.
Another effort from Tielemans followed, but Wolves stopper Patrício was equal to it, while Academy graduate Barnes had an effort of his own turned away by Conor Coady deep inside the opposition box.
However, after a string of opportunities, the game turned in Wolves’ favour when midfielder Hamza Choudhury was sent off for a second bookable offence following a foul on Leander Dendoncker.
Wolves then went in search of the winning goal, but Jiménez and substitute João Moutinho could not convert, while at the other end, substitutes Marc Albrighton and Dennis Praet both had strikes blocked.
The hosts continued to press in injury time, only for Schmeichel to deny Adama Traoré with a good stop, before Söyüncü threw his body in the way of a Jiménez drive to prevent Wolves from pinching all three points.
Major moment
Both Wolves and Leicester traded blows in the opening 45 minutes during an entertaining encounter at Molineux Stadium, and when Willy Boly headed home, the host crowd celebrated what they thought was the opener.
However, after a VAR check, the goal was disallowed due to an offside against Pedro Neto in the build-up, and that proved to be a decisive moment in Wolverhampton.
Who impressed?
Matt Elliott told LCFC Radio at the full-time whistle: "I think Çağlar Söyüncü’s character came through at the end, especially with that block that he made. Ultimately, that was a game-saving challenge.
"Most people don’t want to get involved with Adama Traoré, but Söyüncü was having none of it. He let him know he was around and you need that sort of resilience, that sort of aggression."
Where do we stand?
City remain third in the Premier League standings, now one point behind champions Manchester City, and nine points above Frank Lampard’s fourth-placed Chelsea.
They have now collected 50 points from 26 Premier League matches during the 2019/20 season and have a goal difference of +28.
Coming up…
A mouthwatering clash with Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City comes next for Leicester on Saturday 22 February (5:30pm kick-off), before Brendan Rodgers’ men travel to Carrow Road to face Norwich City six days later (8pm kick-off).