Leicester City put the seagulls to the sword with a devastating first half display that put the game to bed and lifted the foxes to within one point of the top of the Premier League table.
As Leicester City made their season debut on Amazon’s streaming video site, the East Midlanders moved into their own prime with a scintillating display of devastating finishing. After a couple of early scares where Kasper Schmeichel was called into action, the foxes turned on the style, creating chances and hitting the post before James Maddison opened the scoring.
Soon after Jamie Vardy doubled the advantage after a perfectly weighted set up from James Justin. This was all before Maddison manoeuvred excellently on the edge of the box to curl a goal of the month contender into the top corner. The second half was far less entertaining as Leicester kept it professional and gave Brighton no hints of hope.
Another tough game awaits on Wednesday as Everton come to town, but Brendan Rodgers men will welcome yet another challenge for their third game in 6 days. But what were the 3 key things we learned from this game? Check out the next page to see what Foxes of Leicester noticed:
James Maddison is back!
Given the stop start nature of Maddison’s return to the Leicester City side it does feel like we’ve only really seen flashes of his brilliance in the past few months. Understandable when he was coming back from hip surgery.
Those twisting and turning dribbles have been reduced to cameo appearances recently. But tonight they were back with verve as he occupied positions in between lines, linked up play with his forward and wide players and was keen to get shots away as quickly as possible. His first goal was an uncharacteristic first time shot with a hint of a deflection. His second was just what he liked to do.
Manoeuvring
inside the box to open up space before curling a delicious left foot strike into the top corner. The sort of strike a former Algerian used to love. Maddison’s confidence was in full swing after that as he smelled a potential hat trick. Second half didn’t favour further goals as Leicester set their game into cruise control.
Rodgers withdrew Maddison with 20 minutes to go much to his disappointment. But Rodgers had no time for sentiment as he wanted to protect his previously injured number 10 for another difficult game on Wednesday. Its a bit soon but with performances like this and Maddison will be working his way back into the England set up.
James Justin is going to be hard to drop
A good friend of mine who happens to be a huge Luton Town fan, told me 18 months ago that Leicester had signed the ‘Luton Cafu’. I was sceptical to say the least and was really unable to form an opinion as he rarely touched the first team for a good 6 months. Having not played a great deal going into March, Justin was called upon when both Ben Chilwell and Ricardo’s injuries began.
Ricardo’s extended injury lay off and Chilwell’s replacement Timothy Castagne’s own troubles meant that James Justin has been used in every game this season. This was his 12th full 90 minutes in a row and he was a key component in this win as he attacked Brighton’s susceptible flanks constantly driving in crosses. He laid Vardy’s goal on a plate and was involved in Maddison’s.
Justin has played across the whole back line in a three and a four mostly to great success and right now is showing his value in an attacking sense. It can’t have been on Rodgers radar that Justin would kick on this quickly and become such a key part of the team. He’s not a Brazilian full back but his performances could well even start to catch the eye of Mr Southgate. So when Ricardo and Castagne are available this will be an extremely difficult decision for the Leicester City boss.
Brendan Rodgers selection headaches continue but he isn’t complaining
Speaking of playing in the back line, it’s possible that Justin may be utilised at centre back for the coming game against Everton. Jonny Evans picked up yet another yellow card, his fifth of the season, meaning he’ll be sat on the sidelines against the toffees. Rodgers has certainly earned his money this season with a huge variety of team selections that have been navigated across the Premier league and Europe.
Having the luxury of simply picking his best available side isn’t something Rodgers has had the luxury of for much of 2020. Things may well be easing up with Wilfred Ndidi now back in the first eleven and starting his first Premier League game for three months. In addition Caglar Soyuncu, Castagne and Ricardo are all on the horizon of returns (albeit with a few false dawns recently). Things can only get better for Leicester’s injury situation but regardless of what that situation is, you won’t find Brendan Rodgers complaining about it as he prepares for his sides third game in six days.
The boss has handled himself with great dignity since joining the club. So much so that you wonder why he seems to be such a figure of fun within certain media circles. Regardless, the recent run of no wins in 4 has been replaced with 3 wins in a row, Rodgers is doing an amazing job.