Puel's Praise For Fantastic Foxes
- Leicester City advanced to the Emirates FA Cup Fifth Round with a 5-1 win at Peterborough United
- Fousseni Diabaté scores twice on his debut along with a brace for Kelechi Iheanacho
- Wilfred Ndidi also found the net for the Foxes and Danny Simpson returned from injury
- City will discover their fifth round opponents on Monday night
- Manager Claude Puel was delighted with the way his team controlled the game
Two goals each from Fousseni Diabaté and Kelechi Iheanaco, along with a stoppage time strike from Wilfred Ndidi ensured it was the Foxes who advanced, after a brilliant first half display put them firmly in control.
Debutant Diabaté opened the scoring inside 10 minutes when he picked up on an Adrien Silva pass and slotted a neat finish into the far corner. Iheanacho wasted no time in doubling that lead three minutes later before adding a brilliant third with a volley.
Peterborough rallied and pulled a goal back through Andrew Hughes following a corner, but the Foxes regained control with a series of chances – Diabaté taking one near the end with enough time still left to tee up Ndidi for a fifth.
Speaking afterwards, a delighted Puel said: “It was a good experience to start the game well, especially after what happened against Fleetwood. It was a good response and a good cup game. We showed good quality and good play. It’s important to give young players game time so they can show their qualities for the future. These young players can be the future of Leicester City.
“It was a good game with good quality. We knew it would be a tough cup game with all the rain and the wind. It was important for us to show good quality and have some good battles.
“It was important to play good football and we scored fantastic goals in the first half. We tried to keep control of the game. It was good to put an opponent with quality under pressure. We scored early and kept good control to prevent them coming back into the game.
“We have to keep good condition of players in cup games because the cup is an objective for us, but we also have to improve the squad and give our talented young players games. It’s important to develop the squad.”
One player who impressed on his debut for the Club was young winger Diabaté, and the manager is eager for him to continue to put in the hard work that could see him make an impact in the Premier League.
He said: “Fousseni has good attributes to play in the Premier League with lots of pace and a good engine. He has good penetration and showed good combinations with his team-mates.
“It was good for him to show his quality but he has to continue to work hard on the training pitch and take things step-by-step.”