Chelsea avoided a late scare to defeat Leicester City 2-1 at a rain-swept King Power Stadium.
The Foxes didn’t get a sniff in the first half-hour, allowing the visitors to take the lead on 15 minutes without dealing with any pressure whatsoever. The goal itself was an avoidable one, with Wout Faes failing to deal with Nicolas Jackson before he found enough room to fire a strike into the far corner.
Leicester would grow into the game somewhat, but when Enzo Fernández headed home into an empty net after another catalogue of errors.
The hosts did get one final chance, with Jordan Ayew converting a penalty in the 95th minute after Bobby Decordova-Reid was fouled in the box, but it was too little too late. Chelsea had taken all three points.
As it happened
You could travel far and wide this season and you’d likely not see a more one-sided opening half-hour of football than Chelsea’s trip to the King Power Stadium. Enzo Maresca returned to the club with whom he won promotion from the Championship with a point to prove and form to continue: his side had lost only two of their last 14 games. Leicester had lost three of their last four. If the writing wasn’t already on the wall before a ball was kicked, it certainly was by the time it was rolling.
In the first 30 minutes, Leicester failed to create a single pass in the final third. Chelsea made 62. Before taking the lead, Cole Palmer would have an ambitious curling effort blocked as soon as it left his foot and João Félix squandered two identical chances in different ways; he received the ball with acres of space in the box after Leicester failed to clear their lines, first dragging an effort horribly wide and then catching a volley much more cleanly, but still firing it above the crossbar.
By the time Chelsea did score in the 15th minute, Leicester were still yet to cross the halfway line.
The goal itself had been coming, but it was still Chelsea’s first real clear-cut opportunity and a catalogue of Leicester errors; first Mads Hermansen launched an aimless goal kick towards Benoît Badiashile, who sprayed it forwards to Nicolas Jackson. Wout Faes was with him all the way, trying once, twice, three times to clear the ball – and failing each time. When he did get enough of the ball to force it away from one Chelsea man, it fell to another. Enzo Fernández was that man, and he had ample space to slip his striker in on goal. From there, Jackson had no issues, curling the ball into the far corner with the outside of his boot.
Embed from Getty ImagesChelsea had been nothing short of imperious. They had the lead they deserved, and they would continue to put the pressure on.
Moisés Caicedo was the first to try his luck with a potshot shanked horribly wide, before Noni Madueke would put the ball in the back of the net after his side ripped through the Leicester midfield. To his chagrin, though, and the relief of the hosts, the linesman’s flag was up, with Marc Cucurella offside when he crossed the ball through to him.
Leicester for their part, had looked little more than foxes in headlights.
Of course, such vigorous pressure could only last so long. In the last 15 minutes of the first half, Chelsea took their foot off the gas just a tad, and finally allowed the occasional Leicester foray forwards.
On 40 minutes, Kasey McAteer, celebrating his maiden Premier League start, came within inches of levelling the scores with Leicester’s first real chance, cutting past Cucurella on the edge of the area before curling an effort just wide of the far corner.
Then it was Wilfred Ndidi’s turn to miss the target with a strike hit first time with much less composure, eventually finding itself well wide of the far post.
Even though the hosts had worked themselves into the game, they were still relatively powerless to stop Chelsea coming forwards. They needed help from somewhere. What they perhaps didn’t expect was to receive that help from… Chelsea.
In the 54th minute, Fernández won the ball in the Leicester half and a counterattack was on. He played Félix into the attacking third, who then put Jackson in behind. The Senegalese international’s shot was parried back into the area by Hermansen, with Palmer running onto it to slot home for 2-0. It was a certain goal; that was until Madueke got in the way. He’d attacked the ball too, but it was Palmer who struck it. By this point, it was too late; he’d drifted onto the goal line, so when his teammate’s shot came, he inadvertently blocked it on the line – much to the delighted surprise of the Leicester faithful.
Embed from Getty ImagesThat goal might’ve wrapped it up. It was an utterly bizarre – and potentially costly – error. The pair’s response? To smile at one another. If you don’t laugh, you’ll cry.
Besides, Chelsea were still on top. If they were in fifth gear in the first half, they may have dropped to fourth or third in the second, but they were still doing enough; they should have been two to the good, but Leicester were yet to create an opportunity of any real weight in the second half.
Finally, on 75 minutes, they would make it two and put the game to bed. Again, Leicester had only themselves to blame.
No one closed down Cucurella, allowing him to play a cross into the area. Jackson got goal-side of Caleb Okoli when he had no right to do so, powering a header goalwards. Hermansen – to his credit – made a remarkable save, but once again it dropped back into the area. To complete the hat-trick of errors, nobody tracked Fernández’s run into the six-yard box. He headed home, totally unmarked, into the back of an empty net.
Embed from Getty ImagesLeicester did have one last chance, with Stephy Mavididi going down in the area under the challenge of Levi Colwill, but referee Andy Madly waved away the claim away – and VAR agreed with him.
Well, it looked like it would be one last chance. In the 94th minute, Bobby Decordova-Reid was played into the box and Romeo Lavia took him down. At first, the linesman’s flag was raised; but VAR had other ideas. The Leicester man was onside, and a penalty it was.
Jordan Ayew was the man tasked with reducing the deficit, and that he did. It wasn’t a great penalty by any stretch; it wasn’t in the corner, and Sánchez got a hand to it – but not a strong enough hand to keep it out. Leicester had a very, very late lifeline, but one which was ultimately too late. Scare avoided, Chelsea had done enough for three points.
Of course, these are games which Leicester don’t expect to win. These aren’t the games they need to win. Three points would’ve sent them as high as 14th in the table, but alas, they now sit 16th, only three points above of the drop zone.
It’s a tremendous result for Chelsea, though. Not many expected this at the start of the season, but Maresca’s supposedly inflated squad has found itself in third place, only a point adrift of Manchester City in second and close enough to lock eyes with Liverpool.
They haven’t won a Premier League title in eight seasons, but they also haven’t lost a game against a side outside the top two this season. They couldn’t go all the way, could they? Time will have to tell.
The lineups
LEI: Hermansen; Kristiansen, Okoli, Faes, Justin; Ndidi, Winks, Soumaré; McAteer, Vardy, El Khannouss
CHE: Sánchez; Cucurella, Colwill, Badiashile, Fofana; Fernández, Caicedo; Félix, Palmer, Madueke; Jackson