Chelsea Leave With The Points
Goals in each half from Nicolas Jackson and Enzo Fernández took the points beyond the Foxes, before Jordan Ayew's added-time penalty. A game which the visiting Blues dominated at times also involved moments of hope for City, who will feel a point was within their grasp at times during a feisty contest in LE2. It's nevertheless a defeat for Steve Cooper's men against one of the early top-four contenders this season, leaving Leicester 15th ahead of the weekend's other fixtures.
The closest home fixture to the 140th anniversary of the Club’s creation – back on 1 November, 1884 – there was a Spion Kop-wide tifo display to mark the occasion. An early Leicester Fosse crest and the iconic first black shirt offered a fitting backdrop to the teams’ emergence from the tunnel. It’s a story which started in a garden shed on Fosse Road and has, so far, seen a club formed by a collective of Wyggeston School pupils win every major honour in the English game. Cooper’s focus, mind you, is naturally on the here and now. The Welshman made four changes to the XI which was defeated by Manchester United at Old Trafford before the break. Some changes were enforced, notably Abdul Fatawu’s exclusion, after it was confirmed that the Ghanian is set to be out with an ACL injury until the end of the season. Not ideal news at all, but it does offer opportunities elsewhere, namely for young Academy graduate Kasey McAteer to feature from the off on Filbert Way.
McAteer is one of several players in City’s line-up well acquainted to Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca, the man who guided Leicester to the EFL Championship title last term. The Italian is now rebuilding the Stamford Bridge outfit as the six-time English champions go in search of future glories. There was a warm welcome for Maresca from many inside King Power Stadium. Wesley Fofana, who departed the East Midlands in the summer of 2022, started the match. Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, on the other hand, was among the visitors’ options on the bench, later introduced to applause from the Blue Army. On the pitch, City’s injury dilemmas got worse shortly into this breezy lunchtime kick-off, with Harry Winks forced to depart after just 11 minutes. Ex-Tottenham team-mate Oliver Skipp was his replacement, as the Blue Army await an update on Winks' condition. Although it was a relatively uneventful start, Chelsea were on top in the possession stakes. And, 15 minutes in, the west Londoners registered that advantage on the scoreboard. Teaming up with Enzo, Jackson was able to wriggle through a Wout Faes-Caleb Okoli blockade before prodding the ball past the onrushing Mads Hermansen.
The Danish stopper fared better just before the half-hour, however, leaping to his right to divert Noni Madueke's low curler around the base of his far post. Maresca’s guests were in relative control, at one stage holding 84 per cent possession. It was within a VAR screen's pixel of being 2-0 with 33 minutes played. Cole Palmer, Chelsea’s boy wonder, dragged the ball out to Marc Cucurella on the left channel. The Spaniard then fizzed it across the box and into the path of Madueke to convert into the bottom corner. The flag was raised, but not until VAR verified the decision could the City fans allow themselves a sigh of relief. Although Storm Bert was lashing King Power Stadium, the complexion of the game started to brighten up for Leicester before the break. A smart release from Boubakary Soumaré sent Skipp on his bike, driving through the middle. McAteer was bursting down the right and Skipp was able to locate him. For a split second it seemed McAteer’s low hit was going to bulge the net, but instead it skidded inches the wrong side of Robert Sánchez’s post. The majority of the 31,880-strong crowd were on their feet again moments later, although Wilfred Ndidi could only scuff Victor Kristiansen’s cross a few feet wide.
Applause of appreciation was replaced by anxious groans moment later, as Chelsea countered through Jackson. Soumaré and Skipp – both on a booking – were the two nearest men in blue. Jackson’s ball into the box was pinpoint, extending an invitation to Madueke at the back post. Mercifully for the Foxes, it’s one which the England international unwittingly refused, skying his side-footed volley. Into the second half, the rain still lashing, it was Maresca’s Blues on the front foot. Another slice of luck befell City to prevent the visitors from doubling their lead 10 minutes in. João Felix slipped Jackson in on the left flank. Although the Senegalese’s effort was palmed away, it landed at Palmer’s feet. The former Manchester City man, mind you, probably didn’t expect to see team-mate Madueke be the one to block his shot on the line. The second half was hotly contested at times, often bogged down in the middle. The yellow cards kept coming for both teams, but neither were really able to break out with great regularity and put the opposition goalkeeper to work. Chelsea were doing so more often, it has to be said, although it took them until the 76th minute to score their second. Left-back Cucurella’s dinked cross was nodded straight at Hermansen by Jackson, but Enzo was free to head into an empty net as the Foxes ‘keeper reset his feet.
To their credit, there was still fire in Leicester’s bellies, but the mountain they had to climb was ultimately too steep. They’d have been helped had VAR not refused their first calls for a penalty inside the final 10 minutes. Mavididi hit the deck under a challenge by Fofana a yard inside the area, although Stockley Park disagreed with the consensus inside Filbert Way. There was almost a muted response once VAR finally did award Leicester a spot-kick for another foul, this time from Roméo Lavia on Bobby De Cordova-Reid deep into added time. But nevertheless, it was an opportunity to narrow the arrears and earn a reward for not giving in. Ayew, recently introduced from the bench, stepped up and calmly dispatched his fourth Premier League goal in Leicester's colours. The time spent deliberating the decision gave City half a chance at an unlikely equaliser, with the game descending into pinball for the final moments, but it was too tall an order in the end. So it's a disappointing return to action for the Foxes, who next head to the capital to take on Brentford on Saturday, before the following Tuesday night’s visit of West Ham.