City Extend Unbeaten Run At Fulham
With the Foxes playing their second of three top-flight fixtures in the space of just eight days, manager Claude Puel made four changes to his starting XI, handing right-back Danny Simpson and attacker Fousseni Diabaté their first Premier League starts of the season.
City could have gone ahead on just three minutes in London, but Nigeria international striker Kelechi Iheanacho could not beat Sergio Rico after being slipped through by James Maddison.
Stopper Kasper Schmeichel played his part in the clash, first turning Aleksandar Mitrović’s goal-bound flick to safety before pulling off a brilliant save to deny Calum Chambers, whose shot looked to be heading into the back of the net.
Either side of those efforts, Ben Chilwell had a penalty appeal turned down after the left-back’s cross from the wing struck the arm of Cyrus Christie in the Fulham box.
Two big goalscoring opportunities then fell to skipper Wes Morgan. The Foxes No.5 nodded over the bar just before the half-hour mark, and then saw a header saved at the far post by Rico, who he had famously beaten at King Power Stadium in 2017 to help send his side to the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League.
Shortly after, City went ahead through Aboubakar Kamara. The former AS Monaco forward beat Çağlar Söyüncü to the ball before firing beyond Schmeichel three minutes before the interval.
A largely uneventful start to the second half saw Puel react and introduce Demarai Gray, Vicente Iborra and Shinji Okazaki, who all combined with 14 minutes to play to set up Maddison for the leveller.
Iborra won the flick-on and Gray played a one-two with Okazaki, who squared to Maddison 10 yards out. The No.10 side-footed in for his fifth Premier League goal of 2018/19.
Opportunities for both sides to win it came late on. First, Iborra headed Maddison’s corner wide, while Schmeichel was alert to Tom Cairney’s fierce half-volley with five minutes to go.
Major moment
Having already gone close to finding the back of the net through Kelechi Iheanacho and Wes Morgan, the Foxes bagged as deserved equaliser with 16 minutes of normal time to play.
The well-worked move was rounded off by summer signing James Maddison, who has now scored in back-to-back Premier League outings for the second time this term.
Who impressed?
On Saturday, Kasper Schmeichel was described by James Maddison as having ‘some of the surest hands in the Premier League’ and Wednesday’s display against Fulham was solid evidence of that.
While the Denmark international goalkeeper was forced into two routine stops to twice deny Aleksandar Mitrović, it was his save from Calum Chambers in the first half that proved to be most impressive.
Where do we stand?
How the #PL table looks after the midweek fixtures 📊#FulLei pic.twitter.com/oWxUhQlqjR
— Leicester City (@LCFC) December 5, 2018
After 15 fixtures, Claude Puel’s men sit ninth in the Premier League table – just a point behind sixth-placed Everton.
Coming up…
Fixtures will come thick and fast for the Foxes this month, with high-flying Tottenham Hotspur visiting King Power Stadium on Saturday for the evening kick-off (7:45pm GMT).