Defender James Justin played 45 minutes as part of his recovery from an ACL injury, while creative midfielder Thanawat Suengchitthawon returned to the XI having won the AFF Suzuki Cup with Thailand.
It proved to be City’s first outing since Friday 3 December, when they registered a convincing 3-1 Premier League 2 comeback victory over 10-man Leeds United in York thanks to Ethan Fitzhugh’s brace and a strike from Bayli Spencer-Adams.
Their opponents, Chelsea, meanwhile, had not played since early December, having suffered a 3-1 defeat by Derby County to leave them 11th in the standings, two places behind the Foxes heading into Saturday’s clash.
There was welcome news a day prior as first team manager Brendan Rodgers confirmed that Justin would play his first minutes of the 2021/22 season having been out since January 2021.
It was the hosts Chelsea, though, who would find the net after only 22 minutes thanks to Jayden Wareham’s opener. After Justin was replaced by Shane Flynn at the interval, Joe Haigh doubled the hosts’ advantage on 49 minutes, giving the Blues a 2-0 lead.
Although City have shown their ability to recover from losing positions this term, they were unable to do so during their first outing of the New Year, with the London outfit extending their advantage on 64 minutes when Foxes stopper Brad Young turned the ball into his own net.
A fourth arrived at Cobham with five minutes to play, with George McEachran on target, before Ben Elliott completed the scoring to make it 5-0.
The Foxes are next in action on Monday 17 January, when they entertain Brighton & Hove Albion at LCFC Training Ground (7pm GMT kick-off).
City: Young, Justin (Flynn 46’), Spencer-Adams, R. Nelson, Cartwright, Suengchitthawon (T. Pennant 65’), Maswanhise, Ewing (c), I. Hughes, Fitzhugh, Wakeling (Russ 76').
Subs not used: Odunze, Wormleighton.