City Claim Premier League Away Win No.10 By Beating Brighton
Following his first Premier League appearance as a substitute in Wednesday's 1-1 draw at Burnley, young midfielder Sidnei Tavares was handed a maiden start for the Foxes as one of two changes to Brendan Rodgers' starting XI.
Wesley Fofana, after also coming off the bench against the Clarets, was the other switch in personnel, as the France Under-21s international made his first start since late January after recovering from a hamstring issue.
Following two important blocks from City, first from Fofana before Amartey got in the way of Lewis Dunk's effort, the Seagulls seized their first clear goalscoring opportunity of the game as Adam Lallana finished well into the bottom corner from Neal Maupay's pass on 10 minutes.
A fine pass from Fofana over the top of the Brighton defence then found Ricardo Pereria on 18 minutes, however the Portugal star's first-time effort was well saved by Robert Sánchez, who raced out to smother the ball.
A largely uneventful opening 35 minutes was nearly followed up by a maiden Premier League strike for Tavares, whose sweet half-volley was brilliantly saved by Sánchez after Jamie Vardy initially did well to nod it into the midfielder's path. From the resulting corner, Çağlar Söyüncü nodded wide as Leicester pressed for an equaliser.
Shortly before the interval, Brighton had two chances to double their advantage, with Lallana first flicking a header onto the post and then Maupay finding the net, only for his effort to be ruled out for offside.
City started the second half with intent, with Kelechi Iheanacho slamming an effort into the side-netting after a well-weighted pass from Timothy Castagne found the Nigeria frontman on 52 minutes.
And their determination paid off 10 minutes later, when a delightful no-look pass from Youri Tielemans picked out Iheanacho, who brought the ball under control before lifting his effort into the top corner for 1-1.
Rodgers' first change of the evening saw Tavares' encouraging first start for City come to an end, with Marc Albrighton the man to come on for the remaining 18 minutes of normal time.
But after Kasper Schmeichel did well to deny Lallana the winner, and Vardy had a penalty shout turned down after appearing to be fouled by Dunk, the Foxes struck to secure all three Premier League points as Amartey headed in an Albrighton corner with just two minutes to play.
Major moment
After Kelechi Iheanacho levelled matters on 62 minutes, the encounter was set up for a grandstand finish at AMEX Stadium, and while Kasper Schmeichel had to be alert to Adam Lallana's low effort, it was City who claimed three points.
Marc Albrighton, who came off the bench in the second half, swung in a corner and after Robert Sánchez missed his punch, Daniel Amartey anticipated the error and was on hand to adjust his position and nod into an open net.
It was the Ghana international's first Leicester City goal for 1,541 days, with his last coming in a 2-2 draw at Stoke City in December 2016.
Who impressed?
Speaking on LCFC Radio’s Matchday Live from the pressbox at AMEX Stadium, former City and Brighton midfielder Dean Hammond said: “I was really impressed with Kelechi Iheanacho. Not just because of his quality on the ball, but his work rate as well. He was creative and tried to feed Jamie Vardy in behind. He looked confident, and I really enjoyed watching him play. With the goal against Burnley and that finish tonight, that was exceptional."
Where do we stand?
After Saturday’s evening kick-off, City leapfrog Manchester United to sit second in the Premier League standings after 28 matches. They have 53 points on the board with 10 league games to play in 2020/21.
Coming up…
The Foxes now have an eight-day break in Premier League action, next facing Sheffield United at King Power Stadium on Sunday 14 March (2pm kick-off), before contesting their Emirates FA Cup Quarter-Final tie with Manchester United on the same soil a week later (5pm kick-off).