Six On The Bounce For Spirited Foxes
After recovering from a back injury that saw him miss City’s last three matches, Jonny Evans returned to the starting XI, as did midfielders Papy Mendy – making his 50th Premier League appearance – and Dennis Praet, as well as the Foxes’ leading goalscorer, Vardy.
A minute’s silence, accompanied by the sounding of the Last Post, took place at King Power Stadium ahead of kick-off as the Club marked their annual Remembrance Fixture by commemorating the sacrifices of servicemen and women in conflicts past and present with a day dedicated to the Armed Forces community.
It took just 15 minutes for the in-form hosts to the open the scoring after City were awarded a penalty when Praet’s cross struck Max Kilman’s hand in the box. After a VAR review, the referee pointed to the spot and it was Vardy who converted for his eighth Premier League goal in just seven games.
A chance for 2-0 followed five minutes later, but after making a brilliant run across England international Conor Coady, Vardy couldn’t connect with a Praet delivery from the right flank, and the ball flew untouched across the face of goal.
Christian Fuchs, operating as a left-sided centre-back, then drilled wide from around 25 yards out, while the former Austria captain was on hand at the other end to prevent Nélson Semedo from creating a goalscoring opportunity.
Leicester were awarded another penalty – not before it was confirmed by VAR – on 38 minutes, when Rayan Aït Nouri brought down James Justin in the box, but this time, Rui Patrício went the right way to deny the striker, who nearly turned in the rebound, only for the ball to bounce wide.
Brendan Rodgers made one change at the interval, replacing Academy graduate Luke Thomas with winger Marc Albrighton, who nearly set up City’s second of the afternoon after spending just 30 seconds on the pitch, only for Youri Tielemans to head wide from inside the area.
Efforts from both teams followed, with Nélson Semedo lifting over and Pedro Neto being denied by Kasper Schmeichel, while Tielemans fired off target, Maddison saw a strike deflect wide and Evans couldn’t direct his header from a Maddison corner on goal.
Rúben Neves then sent a free-kick over the bar before Kilman, who gave away the first penalty, had a huge change to level matters on 67 minutes, but he couldn’t direct his strike from six yards out on target.
The Wolves pressure continued and it took a stunning save from Schmeichel to keep them at bay as the Denmark international shot-stopper tipped Neves’ long-range effort over with 13 minutes of normal time remaining.
City stood strong, though, and retained their composure in defence before mustering up an excellent chance to make it 2-0. Justin raced down the left wing and squared to substitute Harvey Barnes, whose powerful half-volley would have surely found the net were it not for a last-ditch block from Kilman on 83 minutes.
However, it was only a flicked header from substitute Fábio Silva in the closing stages that threatened to halt City’s winning run, but there was no danger for Schmeichel, who watched the ball sail over his crossbar
Major moment
Plaudits will undoubtedly go to Jamie Vardy for his first-half penalty, but it is hard to ignore a moment in the game that proved to be a match-winner in its own right.
When Rúben Neves - a long-range specialist - unleashed a fine strike from 20 yards out, it appeared to be heading for Kasper Schmeichel's top corner - but the Dane had other thoughts.
City's No.1 shuffled across his line before a sensational save saw him tip Neves' strike over the bar.
Who impressed?
Matt Elliott told LCFC Radio at full-time: “At the risk of repeating myself, Youri Tielemans and Wesley Fofana were great again. Of course, there were other contributors like James Justin, Jonny Evans and Christian Fuchs. There’s a lot of defenders there, but that was the sort of performance we saw. I’ve got to go with Fofana again. He was class in everything he did."
Where do we stand?
Leicester City sit top of the Premier League standings with 18 points from eight outings heading into the third international break of 2020/21, although Liverpool could move back to the division's summit should they beat Manchester City later in the afternoon.
Coming up…
Leicester City are back in Premier League action on Saturday 21 November when they head to Anfield to take on Liverpool (3pm kick-off), while their UEFA Europa League campaign continues three days later with a trip to SC Braga (5:55pm kick-off).
All times GMT.