Matchday Live Talking Points: Tactically Astute, Another Clean Sheet & Rising To The Challenge
- Leicester City's fine form continued with a 2-0 victory over Chelsea at King Power Stadium
- Wilfred Ndidi and James Maddison provided the goals to make it four wins in a row in all comps
- The result moved the Foxes into top spot in the Premier League table on Tuesday evening
- Matt Elliott, Gerry Taggart and Simon Grayson were on hand to provide their post-match thoughts on Matchday Live
A 2-0 victory over Chelsea at King Power Stadium, courtesy of goals from Wilfred Ndidi and James Maddison, was the Foxes' fourth straight win in all competitions and a third clean sheet in a row.
The success on Filbert Way, a second home win in three days, was analysed by Matt Elliott, Gerry Taggart and Simon Grayson on LCFC TV, as they discussed Leicester's impressive display in detail...
On top from start to finish
Matt Elliott said: "It's been a high-class affair from start to finish, as we expected. Chelsea brought their own qualities of course but Leicester seemed to have the upper hand from the off, got the early goal and even from that early stage of the game, looked like they were always going to take the rewards tonight and that proved to be the case. They were the better team overall in pretty much every department, not by any great distance, but as an all-round unit, the way they operated tonight was highly impressive and I'm sure people had taken notice already, but if they hadn't, they certainly will now around the country of just how good a team this Leicester City outfit is."
Tactically spot on
Simon Grayson said: "You don't go top of the league without good players, a good manager who knows what he's doing and I think Brendan [Rodgers] out-mastered Frank Lampard with his tactics. The players were very organised, very disciplined, were ruthless and when they had to defend, they defended. It was very impressive from a lot of individuals, but collective as a team, you've got to be really pleased when you've scored two goals, got three points and a clean sheet and gone top of the league."
Chalking up another clean sheet
Gerry Taggart said: "Every player played their part, everybody came to the table and put in a performance to be proud of and I think they saw the second half out quite comfortably. When you come up against a team against Chelsea, they are obviously going to have possession, they are going to have chances, but for the amount of chances they had, I think Kasper Schmeichel will be having a hot bath after the game. Against the so-called 'big boys', you know you are going to come under fire, under pressure and it's how you deal with that. And on the whole, they dealt with it pretty easily, it has to be said, the clean sheet sort of states that."
Rising to the challenge
Matt Elliott said: "It was a wonderful performance. At certain times, Leicester got the rub of the green to an extent, things went their way, but any fortune they got was well deserved because sometimes the harder you work, the luckier you get and there wasn't much element of luck about that performance but there was bags of quality out there. Leicester took it to Chelsea, they were in their face a little bit, rose to the challenge individually and as a consequence, collectively. They weren't in awe of Chelsea at all, didn't over-respect them and came out deserved victors, it was great to see."
A terrific evening
Simon Grayson said: "When you look at Chelsea, they didn't really create too many opportunities where Kasper Schmeichel is having to make loads of saves. Leicester got the goals at the crucial times and some key decisions did go Leicester's way at valuable times. But they were a threat, they sat back as an away team in the second half but looked like they could score on the counter attack. There can't be many better nights for Leicester City fans and players at this moment in time."
Defensive masterclass
Gerry Taggart said: "There was obviously the controversy with the Timo Werner goal but VAR just about covered that. Chelsea, for me, were a little bit one-paced, they speed it up when they get in the final third but by then Leicester were always in good shape. And when you've got the players like [Wilfred] Ndidi and [Youri] Tielemans, who sit in front of the backline and protect the back four so well, and with [Wesley] Fofana and [Jonny] Evans at the back as well as the two full-backs, they are a class act, there's no doubt about it."