Five-Star Foxes Too Strong For Peterborough
Braces for Fousseni Diabaté, on his Club debut, and Kelechi Iheanacho were added upon by Wilfred Ndidi’s late close-range strike for the Foxes, while Andrew Hughes found the net for the Posh.
While Claude Puel made 10 changes to his line-up from the Premier League victory over Watford, the Frenchman still had a clutch of Premier League medal-holders among the starting XI.
There was also a return to action for Danny Simpson, who has been absent with a hamstring injury this month, while Robert Huth (ankle) was an unused substitute.
Vicente Iborra and Adrien Silva, previous winners of the UEFA Europa League and EURO 2016 respectively, were a force to be reckoned in the middle, operating as City’s creative spark.
It took nine minutes of Leicester dominance for them to register on the scoresheet. Diabaté, signed from Gazélec Ajaccio, danced into the 18-yard box and placed it under home goalkeeper Jonathan Bond.
With England youth internationals Harvey Barnes and Demarai Gray causing havoc just behind Iheanacho, they provided a regular supply of dangerous passes into the Nigerian’s path up front.
Iheanacho’s first, three minutes after Diabaté's, came on the back of fine individual play as he cut inside his man and curled a refined finish into the far corner from the right of Bond’s box.
Christian Fuchs, City’s skipper for the day, was the architect of their third goal. The Austrian raced down the flank and whipped in a delicious cross for Iheanacho to volley home on 29 minutes.
Both Diabaté and Iheanacho went close to adding to their tallies before the interval, but City would have been delighted with their three-goal haul as they headed into the tunnel.
Barnes Delighted By Cup Progress
Midfielder Harvey Barnes spoke to LCFC TV following Saturday's 5-1 win at Peterborough.
The locals presented more of a threat in the second period and, within 13 minutes, they had a goal to show for their efforts as Hughes bundled it past Ben Hamer from Marcus Maddison's corner.
Shortly after, Diabaté linked up excellently with Gray to continue his sparkling performance with a low effort, but Bond was able to get a hand to it.
Substitute Marc Albrighton also went within a whisker with a fearsome drive before, with 12 minutes remaining, he cut inside Liam Shephard and forced the Posh stopper to palm it out once again.
Leicester’s pressure earned further merit late on. In the 87th minute, Diabaté completed his dream debut with another goal before Ndidi, a second half substitute, struck in the dying moments from 10 yards.
Major moment
With a debut goal after just nine minutes, Fousseni Diabaté passed the first signpost on City’s path to the fifth round with a sublime finish into the bottom corner.
It was a due reward for Leicester’s industrious opening in Peterborough and it ultimately laid the foundations for a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon.
Who impressed?
“He’s been a real handful for these Peterborough defenders. You hate to play against strikers like him.” – Steve Walsh, speaking on LCFC Radio.
With three goals in two FA Cup matches for Kelechi Iheanacho already this term, the 21-year-old striker's love for the competition continues.
Iheanacho now has nine FA Cup efforts to his name in total and, following his VAR-assisted goal against Fleetwood Town, he is collecting notable landmarks along the way too.
Where do we stand?
City are in the draw for the Emirates FA Cup Fifth Round. Claude Puel’s men will be ball number 2 when the draw is made at approximately 7pm on Monday evening.
Coming up…
A trip to Goodison Park to face Sam Allardyce’s Everton is next up for the Foxes on Wednesday night (7:45pm kick-off) before Swansea City visit King Power Stadium on Saturday (3pm).