Foxes Fall To Leeds Loss At King Power Stadium
After midfielder Wilfred Ndidi picked up a slight hamstring injury in Wednesday’s 1-1 draw with Everton at Goodison Park, Papy Mendy came into the XI as manager Brendan Rodgers made just one change to his side.
A tight opening 10 minutes was swiftly followed by a fine opener from Harvey Barnes, who drove through the heart of Leeds' midfield, and played a one-two with James Maddison before slotting past Illan Meslier for his 11th goal of the season in all competitions.
However, the visitors responded within two minutes as Stuart Dallas latched onto Patrick Bamford's pass, breaking through and finding the bottom corner of the net to restore parity with only 15 minutes on the clock.
City thought they'd retaken the lead when Maddison's deflected shot fell into the path of Ayoze Pérez, but after finishing well beyond Meslier, the goal was ruled out for offside against the Spaniard in the build-up.
Against his former club, Kasper Schmeichel had to be alert to a Jack Harrison cross that looped up into the air, before the Dane pulled off a fine save at the near post to deny the winger's powerful half-volley shortly after.
Leeds had a goal of their own disallowed just after the half-hour mark, when substitute Mateusz Klich converted from an offside position after Schmeichel had earlier produced a wonderful stop from Bamford.
The City No.1 was there again just moments later, tipping Raphinha's fearsome drive behind while one-on-one with the Leeds attacker, while at the other end, Marc Albrighton had two efforts saved by Meslier.
Then came Leicester's first substitution of the game, with Belgium full-back Timothy Castagne coming off in place of Portugal star Ricardo Pereira on 36 minutes.
Maddison struck the crossbar, albeit after the referee's whistle had gone due to a foul from Wesley Fofana, with five minutes of the first half to play, as the hosts continued to probe for a second goal of the afternoon.
Level at the interval, Çağlar Söyüncü was introduced for the second 45 minutes, with Albrighton the man to make way.
It took only three minutes for City to create another goalscoring opportunity, as James Justin saw his low effort blocked, before a VAR check for a penalty followed, but Leeds captain Liam Cooper was adjudged not to have fouled Justin in the box.
Meslier did well to smother the ball after a neat move from the Foxes nearly saw Youri Tielemans slip in Ricardo, who then saw a low strike saved by the Leeds stopper on 58 minutes.
Not long after, Tielemans drilled a strike into the body of Meslier, but it was Leeds who next found the net as Bamford slammed a left-footed effort into top corner with 20 minutes to play.
Four minutes later, Maddison's free-kick was fired back across goal by Pérez, who then picked out Fofana, but the France Under-21s defender saw his strike blocked.
From the resulting corner, Söyüncü's flick-on found Jonny Evans, only for the No.6 to prod wide at the far post, while Meslier was on hand to save from Pérez and Mendy as Leicester ramped up the pressure.
In a bid to maintain his side's attacking momentum, Rodgers then brought on Cengiz Ünder for the final 10 minutes plus stoppage time, with Fofana the man to come off.
A brilliant goal-line intervention from Ricardo prevented Pascal Struijk from extending Leeds' advantage, but their third goal did arrive on 84 minutes, when Bamford broke and squared to Harrison, who sealed the points for the visitors.
Major moment
The game remained in the balance right up until the latter stages, with Leeds holding a one-goal advantage over City after Stuart Dallas and Patrick Bamford replied to Harvey Barnes' early effort.
But as City pressed for a leveller, their forward commitment saw the visitors launch a counter-attack, resulting in them adding to the scoreline.
Rounded off by Jack Harrison, Leeds' third goal of the afternoon ultimately prevented Leicester from mounting a comeback against Marcelo Bielsa's side.
Who impressed?
Speaking on LCFC Radio, co-commentator Gerry Taggart said: “In a frantic game of football, we went on about goals and goal-mouth incidents. That being the case, Kasper Schmeichel gets Man of the Match today. Some of the saves he made today were world-class."
Where do we stand?
The Foxes remain in third position in the Premier League table following their 21st fixture of the 2020/21 campaign.
Coming up…
City travel to Craven Cottage to face Fulham on Wednesday (6pm kick-off) in the Premier League, while a second away trip in four days follows on Sunday, when they travel to Molineux Stadium for a meeting with Wolverhampton Wanderers (2pm kick-off).
All times GMT.