Leicester City failed to capitalise on Manchester United’s slip up as they were held to a goalless draw against Wolves.
The match was a classic ‘If you can’t win, don’t lose’ affair as neither side wanted or were allowed to attack with any impetuous.
Both sides had long range efforts in the first half, but the first big chance fell in the second half to Fabio Silva as a ricochet put him through on goal and looked as though he would break the deadlock. Though, thanks to Kasper Schmeichel’s left boot, the score remained goalless.
Then with a couple minutes of stopped time left, Jamie Vardy darted across two Wolves defenders to meet a cross but agonisingly for all Leicester City fans, he headed wide.
It’s another match that leaves Foxes fans with mixed feelings, as again Man United slip up and Leicester draw, however this was a very tough, cagey affair and Nuno’s men defended very well, take the point and move on.
Who shone and who disappointed in the players ratings?
Kasper Schmeichel- 7
As I said in my player ratings for the Fulham match, Kasper will have nothing to do for long periods of the match, apart from BIG moments. Today’s match was exactly the same. The only thing he had to do today was to spread himself as wide as he could to prevent Fabio Silva from scoring, and he did magnificently.
Ricardo Pereira- 5
In the first half, Pedro Neto had his fellow countryman on toast. I’ve never seen Ricardo lose out to a winger like that, however in the second half the Foxes doubled up on that side, and the Portuguese coped a lot better. Attacking wise there were glimpses but nothing that troubled Wolves.
Jonny Evans- 6
Defensively all he had to was defend crosses as all of Wolves’ attacking play was out wide, it only effected Evans when he was dragged out wide by Neto and got done a couple of times. Apart from that he was fairly solid.
Caglar Soyuncu- 6
Similar to Evans, he met every cross that came his way but didn’t allow himself to get dragged out wide by Traore on the opposite side.
James Justin- 6
Much was made pre-match about how the youngster would cope with Traore’s electric pace and strength and in the first half he easily won the battle. In the second Justin suffered when he was isolated a lot of the time, but after Neto was substituted the Foxes doubled up on that side and ensured the Spaniard wouldn’t get his first goal contribution of the season.
Hamza Choudhury- 7 MOTM
A lot may disagree with this, but Hamza had an excellent game. He stopped the flair players from gaining momentum and let everyone else dictate whatever play Leicester City had. It was a Ndidi like performance.
Youri Tielemans- 6
The Belgian didn’t have a bad game he just struggled to assert himself. Everyone had a similar sort of game, in that they couldn’t play defensive splitting passes or beat a couple of players. However, defensively he helped Ricardo and Justin as he consistently doubled up on either Neto or Traore.
James Maddison- 4
I thought he was really poor today. It would be hard for any attacking midfielder, but when given the chance to shine Maddison made the wrong decision. Twice he should have played a team-mate in but chose to shoot and was sloppy when on the ball. His set pieces are also one of the main reasons as to why Leicester are so poor from them.
Ayoze Perez- 4
The Spaniard was anonymous today and had similar performance to Maddison. He cropped up in that inside right position but gave the ball away too much and struggled to influence the game in any way.
Harvey Barnes- 6
He was the brightest spark for Leicester City today- which wasn’t hard- as in the first half he linked up well with Iheanacho and was very unlucky not to score in the second when the ball broke to him 10 yards out. Would just love to see him take his man on at every opportunity.
Kelechi Iheanacho- 6
He quite rightly started again today and played well in what was a tough game. His link up play is severely underrated and adds another dimension to the attacks. The Nigerian never really had an opportunity, although if you were being hyper critical; his touch could have been better when Barnes’ cross fell to him in the first half.
Substitutes:
Jamie Vardy- 5
The veteran had five touches, four of which were poor, but incredibly with the fifth he had Leicester City’s best chance. He should have scored, make no mistake; and if it was Perez or Iheanacho, fans would be acting differently.
Marc Albrighton- 6
Quietly influenced the game as he caused confusion in the Wolves box with a couple of good crosses. Also helped Ricardo out against Neto.