Fighting On Three Fronts – The Under-18s' 2021 In Review
Focusing on the league campaign, City bounced back from their opening day home defeat to Crystal Palace to register back-to-back victories, finishing August on a positive note.
After picking up three points and a clean sheet from their trip to the south coast to face Brighton & Hove Albion, Reading were also put to the sword, this time at LCFC Training Ground.
The loss at West Ham United proved to be a minor blip as the young Foxes carried momentum into the new month via a run of four successive triumphs, beginning with an impressive 1-0 success over Chelsea in Seagrave, followed by another shut-out and 3-0 win at Southampton.
Arsenal were also overcome in October, and Leicester rounded off the month with a 1-0 defeat of Fulham. The unbeaten run continued into November as a six-goal thriller against West Bromwich Albion ended with both sides taking a share of the spoils.
The Foxes youngsters were soon back on the winning trail, and emphatically so too, blowing Norwich City away with a stunning performance and a 7-0 win over the Canaries - their biggest margin of victory so far this term.
The calendar year ended on a high and another notable success, coming away from Tottenham Hotspur Training Ground having scored three goals – all netted by Chris Popov - kept a sixth clean sheet of the league campaign and picked up all three points.
Wales youth international forward Popov’s hat-trick moved him onto 11 goals for the season in all competitions, including eight league strikes and two in the Premier League Cup. The other goal, coming in the FA Youth Cup, sealed City’s passage to round four.
It looked to be a daunting trip to face competition holders Aston Villa at Villa Park, but the side coached by Adam Barradell delivered a stirring display, scoring twice in the second half. Kian Penannt grabbed the opener, another forward with a fine goalscoring record this term.
His seven strikes in nine league matches, alongside four assists, have propelled Leicester up to third position in the league standings, level on points with top-of-the-table Chelsea at the mid-season break, while his tally is 10 across all formats.
Leicester came straight out of the blocks in the U18 Premier League Cup, too, seeing off Newcastle United in Seagrave. That 3-1 triumph was followed by an uncharacteristic 2-0 reverse at Southampton a week later, leaving City needing a result in their final group stage game.
And Leicester returned to form by delivering a scintillating display and 4-1 victory over Nottingham Forest, but must now await the outcome of another game in the pool to see if they have qualified for the quarter-finals.
The Foxes’ Under-18s head into 2022 with plenty to play for and, summing up the successes of the year, coach Adam Barradell told LCFC.com: “First of all, we’ll measure the success of the season on the development of the players.
"What we have so far, as a group, is we’ve seen some real development as individuals, but also the team in the way we’re playing. It’s also how we are able to execute the game model and the game plans consistently.
"Overall, it’s been a successful half of the season, the amount of clean sheets that we’ve kept, how organised we’ve been and some of the attacking football that we’ve played.”