Leicester 4-1 Watford: 3 Things Foxes of Leicester learned

Leicester City started the defence of their FA CUP crown in emphatic fashion, with a win over former Leicester legend Claudio Ranieri’s Watford. Here are the 3 key things we learned:

Top quality still exists in the Leicester City side

Given the availability issues, this comprehensive win was a huge and much-needed boost and a healthy reminder of how good many of these LCFC players are. When Jannik Vestergaard was crudely held back on a corner, referee Mike Dean had little choice but to point to the spot and start Leicester City’s FA cup the same way it ended last year, with a Youri Tielemans goal.

Tielemans’ familiar swagger was back in full swing but not as much as a resurgent James Maddison who is now remarkably the current top Premier League Englishman for goals and assists in all competitions, amazing when you consider where he was at the start of the season. Maddison took his goal with class and continued to weave his way through Watford’s shaky defence at will and should have added more, but for some over-indulgent dribbling, Madders is back!

Also, Harvey Barnes was seen for the first time in a month grabbing a calmly placed goal to remind everyone he is still a dangerous presence. This was all before ‘captain for the day’ Marc Albrighton grabbed a goal to equal his normal average of 2 a season. Watford threatened to get back into the game at 2-1 but never made a true scare materialise as they were sent packing back to Hertfordshire.