Leicester City 2-0 Everton: Player ratings
Leicester City claimed a 2-0 win in Claude Puel’s first game in charge, but how did the players fare?
Leicester took the lead through Jamie Vardy, but the goal came from Demarai Gray, who was able to get away from two defenders on the counter-attack before releasing the ball to Riyad Mahrez to tee up Jamie Vardy to score.
The second goal also came through Gray, who sized up Tom Davies before firing a low cross that Jonjoe Kenny diverted into his own net.
The win sees Leicester City move into 11th place in the Premier League table, and all of a sudden they look stable once again. Here are the player ratings from the 2-0 win:
Defence
Kasper Schmeichel – 6
Everton were mainly restricted to shots from distance, and Kasper Schmeichel had little to do, but what he did do was done well.
Danny Simpson – 7
The game suited Danny Simpson. After going 2-0 up, he was able to sit as a defensive full-back and begin counter-attacks after winning the ball back.
Wes Morgan – 8
Wes Morgan got a very good touch on a Wayne Rooney free-kick to avoid Everton pulling the scoreline back to 2-1. He also made a key interception from a cross to stop the ball finding Oumar Niasse with the goal at his mercy. A good, solid display from the captain.
Harry Maguire – 6
He worked well with Morgan at the heart of defence, but Dominic Calvert-Lewin didn’t drag either of the two out wide as much as expected, playing into their hands.
Christian Fuchs – 4
The Austrian gave up a good chance in the first half by not tracking Aaron Lennon into the penalty are, but fortunately, Lennon opted against shooting. He also should have had a penalty given against him for a challenge after a similar run by Lennon.
Lennon being subbed off at half time eased Fuchs’ problems, as he had Ben Chilwell ahead of him covering and the only real threat down that flank was young Kenny for Everton.
Midfield
Demarai Gray – 9
Gray has been given a vote of confidence by his new manager, having been vocal in the past that he deserves more gametime. Gray was a bright spark from the off, picking the ball up in midfield, moving past into an advanced area and testing Jordan Pickford.
He was influential in the opening goal, breezing past Davies and Idrissa Gueye to tee up Riyad Mahrez perfectly to find Vardy. While his cross for the second goal wasn’t the best, he provided pace and was direct which led to the goal after finding the mismatch out wide against Davies.
Wilfried Ndidi – 6
Both he and his midfield partner had to up their defensive workload due to the lack of Okazaki, but they did quite well and didn’t allow Everton to get through the midfield easily.
Next: Leicester City 2-0 Everton: Three things we learned
Vicente Iborra – 6
A quiet game for Vicente Iborra, as he and Ndidi dropped far too deep after going up by two goals. To start the second half, they were outnumbered after Everton’s formation change, but they pressed and defended well in the low block, restricting Everton to low quality shots.
He fluffed a chance five minutes from the end, as his first touch left the ball behind him. He did well to get into the position to take the chance, though.
Ben Chilwell – 5
Puel slotted Ben Chilwell in as a winger, perhaps an uncomfortable position for the England under-21 international – and he was pretty quiet. He doubled up as an extra left-back when Everton were putting the pressure on Leicester’s defence, but he didn’t really impact the game as much as he would have liked.
Forwards
Riyad Mahrez – 8
Mahrez was allowed to operate in a more central role by Claude Puel in place of Shinji Okazaki – similar to how he used Hatem Ben Arfa at Nice. He got the assist from the right-hand side, though, slotting a fine ball through to Vardy.
In the second half, we saw the drawback to playing Mahrez behind the striker, as Leicester’s midfield lacked in numbers when Everton had possession, which eventually led to the Algerian being subbed off.
Jamie Vardy – 8
He had an opportunity to use his pace against a slower center-back partnership in Phil Jagielka and Ashley Williams, and he was able to use that pace to score his sixth goal of the season, getting ahead of the two defenders to tap home.
He became a lonely and isolated player after the two goals, but he worked hard without Shinji Okazaki and pressed well out of possession. Towards the end of the game, he worked well as an outlet, and provided a quality cross to Iborra late on that could have sealed the game.
Substitutes
Shinji Okazaki – 6
Subbed on for Mahrez after Leicester City’s legs began to tire, and found himself in a good position in front of goal but the referee decided against playing advantage for Leicester.
Marc Albrighton – 6
Brought on for Chilwell with 10 minutes to go and was key late on in retaining possession.
Kelechi Iheanacho – N/A
On for Vardy in the dying moments of the game and didn’t have enough time to influence that match.