With the Foxes having rescued a late win against Coventry City in the highly-anticipated M69 Derby last weekend, Enzo Maresca’s side were keen to build upon that positive momentum with another victory against Huddersfield Town.
HUD: Nicholls; Ruffels, Helik, Pearson, Edwards; Rudoni, Hogg; Koroma, Diarra, Thomas; Ward
LEI: Stolarczyk; Doyle, Vestergaard, Faes, Pereira; Dewsbury-Hall, Winks, Pratt; Mavididi, Iheanacho, Marçal-Madivadua
The Foxes got off to a blistering start at the John Smith’s Stadium, with Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall spraying the ball out to Stephy Mavididi. His cross into the area eventually made its way to Wanya Marçal-Madivadua, who sent a speculative strike well wide of the post with his weaker foot.
The Portuguese youngster was certainly a bright spark in the Leicester ranks throughout the opening exchanges, and looked to play a neat one-two with Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall just moments later – but the midfielder overhit the return pass.
Leicester City continued to test the Huddersfield defence though, and a free-kick delivered by Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall found the head of Kelechi Iheanacho – but the Nigerian’s effort was saved rather comfortably by Lee Nicholls.
Yet another break for the Foxes just before the twenty-minute mark showed signs of promise, but Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s pass through to Wanya Marçal-Madivadua was ultimately squandered, with the winger tangling the ball between his feet.
Ricardo Pereira’s defence-splitting pass looked sure to pay dividends for the Foxes as he played in Denis Praet – but the Belgian blew a huge goalscoring opportunity, firing his shot straight at Lee Nicholls.
With just over thirty minutes played in Huddersfield, Jakub Stolarczyk was put to work for the first time in his Leicester City career, palming Josh Korma’s curling strike from distance over the bar. The resulting corner was cleared well by Wout Faes – but the Terriers’ pressure continued a few moments later, with Sorba Thomas’ cross from the right flank smashed over the bar by Michał Helik.
That pressure spilled over into the second half too, with Jakub Stolarczyk kept busy by the likes of Brahima Diarra – who had his strike from the edge of the box parried away from danger by the Polish shot-stopper.
But with just over seventy minutes played at the John Smith’s Stadium, the Foxes found the breakthrough through Stephy Mavididi. Having impressed on his debut against Coventry City last weekend, the winger opened his Leicester City account with a sensational piece of skill – jinking into the box, performing a flurry of stopovers before capitalising on a Lee Nicholls error to thread the ball through the goalkeeper’s legs and into the back of the net!
The opener had certainly been against the run of play, and the Terriers felt that they were still in strong contention to take at least a point from this match – but despite five additional minutes of stoppage time, the hosts weren’t able to find that all-important leveller.
Leicester City have won their first two matches in the EFL Championship and sit second in the table ahead of their next match against Cardiff City, while Huddersfield are still yet to pick up a point. They’ll look to change that as they face Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium next weekend.
