Last month FoL analysed all six of Leicester City’s games and chose the three best and worst performers from them. It wasn’t fun. Leicester suffered a disheartening September in terms of results. One win from five – and that was a scrappy 2-0 win over Millwall in the Carabao Cup – three losses and two draws. It was much easier to write about the three worst players than the best.
October brought a change of fortunes for the East Midlander’s, though the 2-2 draw to Crystal Palace didn’t inspire much confidence at the start of the month. However, an incredible resurgence saw the Foxes win four in a row, including a stunning 4-2 win over Manchester United, followed by Daka’s ‘worldie’ of a performance in Moscow as they beat Spartak 4-3.
Overall, October has been a much more positive month for Leicester – even if it ended with a poor 2-0 loss at home to Arsenal. Leicester started the month 13th in the table, and have climbed to 11th – not perfect, but better. They saved their Europa League campaign with the win in Russia and progressed to the next round in the Carabao in which they’ll play *reads notes* Liverpool away, oh god.
In September, Leicester only managed to score 7 goals and conceded 8. In October, they doubled that goal tally, netting 14. Worryingly they also conceded 12. But the performances in October haven’t been anywhere near as bad as they were in September, and I’m not going to base the Arsenal defeat as the whole month. So, there will be no worst players this month – Jannik Vestergaard you are lucky in that sense – but there will be a best.
Without further ado, we start the top three with one of Leicester City’s forgotten Premier League winners.
Daniel Amartey
Premier League winner. FA Cup winner. The best centre back on this planet. Big Daniel Amartey has had a super month.
Now, the way I usually write and plan these articles is to analyse two or three key moments in the month that really show how good a player has been. For a striker that is easy, just choose three goals. For an attacker it’s easy, just choose three assists or runs. For most standout defenders it is easy, just choose three key blocks and maybe a goal from a set-piece. Daniel Amartey poses a new challenge for me.
There aren’t any matches per se in which Amartey has completely dominated the game or made the pitch his own. Leicester also haven’t kept a clean sheet this month, so there goes another talking point. But Amartey has been brilliant overall.
He started the season as a starting centre-back alongside Soyuncu but was then dropped for the incoming Jannik Vestergaard. The Danish centre-half then proceeded to have a… challenging start to his Leicester career, and so Amartey was reinstated in his role in the starting XI to face Manchester United. Jonny Evans’ return also meant that Leicester could play their favoured back three, with Amartey strongest in a three-man defence.
Since then, Amartey has been an ever-present in the Foxes side starting in three of Leicester’s four wins. Arsenal game aside, the backline looks much smoother with a back three, and with Amartey in it.
It’s not been plain sailing for Amartey in his Leicester career, he arrived in January transfer window in 2016, but the squad cohesion was so well glued together at that point that Claudio Ranieri didn’t often use the Ghanaian international. Though, Amartey can say he was part of a historic Premier League winning side.
When he arrived at Leicester after a £5million transfer from Danish giants FC Copenhagen, his best position wasn’t clear. Initially he was deployed as a CDM – especially after Kante left and Mendy was injured quickly into his debut season in 2016/17.
Amartey was then used as a right back by Claude Puel took charge of the Foxes and was a frequent starter in the 2018/19 season. This progress was cruelly halted after a horrific ankle break in the 1-1 draw with West Ham on 27th October 2018. His injury would have been a bigger story for Leicester that night, if not for the following tragic events that took the life of Khun Vichai and four others.
The injury left Amartey missing the rest of the season, as well as the whole of the 2019/20 season. He returned to the squad in September 2020 in the Carabao Cup loss to Arsenal, in which he started as a right back. A few days later and he was starting in a back three to face Manchester City in the Etihad in an outstanding 5-2 win. Since then, he has been used increasingly often, featuring throughout the FA Cup winning campaign.
It’s been a long and frustrating journey for him, but finally Amartey is having the run of games and the run of performances that he knows he can deliver. He has been solid this season and is not the reason for the defensive woes that Leicester have suffered. After £15m spent on Vestergaard, it turns out that the true solution was hiding in plain sight.
Patson Daka
Wow. Just wow. Until October, Daka has looked promising for Leicester, but hadn’t delivered on the potential that a 30-goal-a-season player has on him. He scored in pre-season, hadn’t opened his official account for the Foxes, nor was he starting games as we had perhaps expected.
He had a goal ruled out against Napoli for the slightest of offsides but had to wait a little longer for his first goal. Then Manchester United came to town.
Daka found himself coming off of the bench for Kelechi Iheanacho on the 77th minute but couldn’t have had a bigger impact. Immediately he was thrust into the action as he had a good chance stopped by De Gea. He should have scored, but he didn’t let it deter him.
De Gea thwarted Daka again moments later after he received the ball from a corner, but the ball was spilled and Caglar Soyuncu thrashed it in to put the Foxes 2-1 up, a goal made by Daka’s predatory nature towards the goal.
Finally, in the 91st minute, Daka opened his official account for the Foxes, as a set-piece ball found its way to the Zambian who did the rest, bundling his way to goal. There was no assist given for the goal, but it should go down the Harry Maguire, who let the Zambian stroll past him unchallenged. By scoring, Daka made history, becoming the first ever Zambian to score in the Premier League.
That cameo was just the start for Daka. He had a taste of goal, and now he wanted more. Spartak Moscow were the opponents, and the Foxes found themselves 2-0 away in Russia, with many feeling like the game was lost. Then, less than a minute after Spartak’s second, Leicester bit back. Kelechi Iheanacho’s lovely through-ball was met by Daka who was playing off of the back line – Vardy-esque. His finish was clinical, and suddenly LCFC were back in it. 2-1.
Three minutes into the second half, and Iheanacho squared the ball to Daka for 2-2. The game was rescued. Five minutes later, and a stunning ball from Youri Tielemans put Daka through. By this point, finishing was a muscle reflex for him. He stayed calm and composed as he slotted his finish past the keeper and into the net, becoming the first Zambian to score a hattrick in European competition.
But Daka wasn’t done for the day, and Maddison’s ball to him on the edge of the Spartak box was just too inviting. Four for the Zambian. In one night he became Leicester’s joint-highest ever European goal scorer, the first Zambian to score four in a European game, and scored the fastest ever hat-trick scorer in Europa League history, earning him a perfect 10 on WhoScored.com. All in a days work.
With that game, Daka was fully unleashed, and if he had continued his goal scoring return he would have been my player of the month. But that isn’t anything against him. He single handily saved Leicester’s Europa League campaign, and now has a real aura of danger around him whenever he enters the field of play. A selfless assist to James Maddison for the match-winning goal against Brentford wasn’t too bad either.
I cannot wait to see what Daka has in store for November. Opposition defences should be wary – this kid is special.
Leicester City’s player of the month: Youri Tielemans
We all know how good Youri Tielemans is. We don’t need any reminders. His FA Cup winning goal was legendary enough, but in October, Youri came to life.
It is hard to find any more superlatives for the Belgian that haven’t already been used. When he was signed on loan in 2019, it was seen as a big coup for the club. The midfielder hadn’t been performing as his best for Monaco, but even still, it was a big name.
He exceeded expectations for Leicester, and instantly became a fan favourite with his incredible passing and finishes. That summer, the transfer saga for Youri felt like it went on forever. Manchester United wanted him. There were talks of Spurs hijacking the deal. Ultimately, Youri chose Leicester and has since turned himself into a legend for the club.
£40m for him was a bargain fee. Remember, Chelsea paid £35m for Danny Drinkwater. The transfer market is ludicrous at the best of times, but Youri was worth every penny. Leicester wouldn’t even consider double that fee for him now if anyone were to bid for him.
It’s common knowledge that Youri has a rocket of a shot in him, but he wanted everyone to be reminded of that this month. His equaliser against Manchester United was audacious to say the least. Mason Greenwood had fired the visitors ahead with a rocket shot, but sloppy play from Maguire led to Kelechi Iheanacho passing the ball in the way of Tielemans. He wasn’t in an angle to shoot. We all expected a ball to be swept into the danger area. But the sheer audacity to just float and chip the ball over De Gea was outrageous.
There was some debate over whether it was meant to be a shot, or if it was a botched cross. For me, there is no doubt that he meant it.
Against Spartak four days later, he was injured before half-time, but still continued and provided a brilliant assist for Patson Daka’s hat-trick. Smartly though, he was then taken off and was a doubt for Sunday’s tough trip to Brentford.
Come Sunday, Tielemans was in the starting XI, and delivered the opener in the capital. A ball deflected off of a free kick found its way to Youri who was around 30 yards away from goal. To any other player, to shoot is a farcical choice, for Tielemans it’s nature. The goal didn’t come from placement, it was about pure power. The fact that the net stayed intact was the biggest surprise.
The goal was special, but the Belgian’s pre-assist for Maddison’s winner was mouth-wateringly good. Up to that point, it was all Brentford. The game was level at 1-1, it was tight and tetchy for the East Midlander’s. And then, out of nowhere, on the counter-attack, Youri delivered a defence splitting pass to Patson Daka, who rolled it square to Maddison to see the game off. That’s just what Youri does for Leicester City.
To have a lethal finisher and a quality player up front is every team’s dream. To have an incredible passer and long-range shooter behind them is a luxury.
Youri’s contract situation with the club still isn’t clear, and we could well be seeing the last season of him playing in Leicester blue. Enjoy it whilst it lasts, to watch him play for your side is a true pleasure.
Honourable mentions
There was some high competition this month to get into the list, Jamie Vardy had a quieter goal scoring month than usual, but his strike against United was fantastic, and his presence is always felt. Kelechi Iheanacho also delivered up front and continues to be a fantastic centre-forward, providing assists left, right and centre.
Away from the forwards, Boubakary Soumare has slotted in well, and looks like a blend between both Ndidi and Tielemans. Timothy Castagne impressed down the wing and Jonny Evan’s return was very much welcome and has made the defence much more comfortable.
Lastly, Ademola Lookman gets a biased mention from me. The change in system has led to his exclusion from the starting line-up, but in October he added to his Leicester City goal tally and continued to impress off of the bench.