Slender Defeat For City In Burnley
The Clarets raced ahead inside 10 minutes, courtesy of efforts from ex-City forward Chris Wood and Kevin Long, before Jamie Vardy’s 20th strike of the season narrowed the arrears later on.
Claude Puel made three changes from last weekend’s 2-1 defeat by Newcastle United with Vicente Iborra, Fousseni Diabaté and Marc Albrighton missing out.
Shinji Okazaki and Demarai Gray returned to the starting line-up in Lancashire while Hamza Choudhury continued his first team education from the start on his full Premier League debut.
A frustrating opening handed City with an unenviable task as Wood slotted Sean Dyche’s hosts ahead before Long, with a thunderous header, beat Kasper Schmeichel from close range.
Choudhury Disappointed By Burnley Defeat
Hamza Choudhury talks to LCFC TV after his first Premier League start ended in a 2-1 defeat to Burnley at Turf Moor...
Leicester, though, refused to relent as they improved as the game went on with Vardy and Riyad Mahrez both testing Nick Pope, who impressed again in the Burnley net.
City’s best opportunity of the opening 45 minutes came shortly after the half-hour mark as Ben Chilwell lofted a superb cross into Mahrez at the back post, but Pope held onto it well.
Before the interval, the Algerian was inches away from repeating his free-kick exploits of weeks gone by. However, an excellent attempt, aimed towards the top right corner, whistled just wide.
Pope was called upon with half-an-hour to go, getting down to prevent Vardy from locating the bottom corner, and half-time substitute Kelechi Iheanacho was also making an impact later on.
It was the Nigeria international who laid it up for Vardy to register his 20th goal of the season in the 72nd minute, picking the England striker out to drive it into the roof of the net from the edge of the box.
As Leicester pressed for a late equaliser, Vardy was unfortunate not to get a touch on Diabaté’s excellent searching cross from the left flank. In the end, it missed everybody in the Burnley area.
With four minutes remaining, Schmeichel was forced to leave the field, following a collision with Ashley Barnes, and Puel revealed at full-time that the Club’s medical team will evaluate him on Monday.
Who impressed?
On a momentous day for him personally, Academy graduate Hamza Choudhury deputised for the injured Vicente Iborra with composure in the middle of the pitch on his full Premier League debut.
With Wilfred Ndidi suspended and Matty James out for the remainder of the campaign, Claude Puel will be reassured after this display to know Choudhury can step up when required.
Major moment
Conceding early in the game was a blow for the Foxes and with Chris Wood’s opener being swiftly followed by another so quickly, from Kevin Long, the odds of a comeback widened.
Despite having just over 80 minutes to do so, Burnley has displayed many times in the past how formidable they can be at Turf Moor and ultimately they repeated that feat once again.
Where does it leave us?
City are sat eighth in the Premier League, nine points adrift of Burnley, one above Everton, but the five-point gap to 10th place Newcastle United will give them comfort.
Coming up…
Southampton visit King Power Stadium on Thursday night (7:45pm kick-off) before a trip to tackle Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Saturday 28 April (3pm kick-off).
For an as-it-happened account, line-up details, stats and video from Turf Moor, click HERE.