Leicester City were looking to extend their recent good run of form at the King Power Stadium on Saturday lunchtime, the visitors were Premier League champions, Manchester City.
Another important game arrived for the Foxes, who were hoping to climb further up the table and away from the relegation zone. A win could have potentially taken them up to 10th place. Man City, who were in second place, would leap-frog Arsenal into first position with victory, before the Gunners’ game against Nottingham Forest on Sunday.
Brendan Rodgers made two changes from his side that beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 4-0. Caglar Soyuncu came in for Boubakary Soumare, who wasn’t involved in the matchday squad, and Jamie Vardy replacing Patson Daka.
Pep Guardiola also made a big change to his side, the decision to leave Erling Haaland the goal-machine out of the squad completely following injury and illness was significant. After quite a dull first-half with no real chances falling for either side, an insane free-kick from Kevin De Bruyne was the one moment of brilliance that separated the two teams by the final whistle.
Leicester City goalkeeper and defenders
Danny Ward: 8 – Had a really good game, despite conceding what was an outstanding goal, there was absolutely nothing he could’ve done to stop that. Claimed crosses well, played some nice long balls to help with Leicester’s counter attacks, also made a massive save to deny Bernardo Silva.
Daniel Amartey: 7 – Dealt well with Jack Grealish, blocked his crosses, also used his strength against him to wrestle the ball out of play. In addition to some good passes with Tielemans there to help the midfielder out.
Wout Faes: 8 – Excellent as always. Guided the rest of his defence, won all of his headers, felt confident enough to drive forward out of the defence with the ball. He also played a few balls forward allowing LCFC to attack.
Caglar Soyuncu: 6 – Floated a nice long ball up to James Justin, made some important tackles to stop the Citizens coming forward. And showed passion when going into tackles; a decent comeback.
James Justin: 8 – Had a good game, especially considering he had two men to deal with most of the time. Handled Silva well; made a few stray passes, and was good going forward.
Timothy Castagne: 6 – Stopped crosses coming in on his side, but didn’t have too much to do going forward. He linked up nicely with Amartey and Tielemans to help advance the ball occasionally.
Midfielders
Youri Tielemans: 7 – Made a couple misplaced passes yet played balls forward to start counter attacks; was available as an outlet to help the defence out. His volley on goal was outrageous, if it was going either side rather than straight at the keeper it would’ve gone straight into the back of the net.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall: 4 – Made some poor passes and lost possession too many times, sometimes leaving Leicester under pressure in the defence after losing the ball high up the pitch.
James Maddison: 6 – Spent most of his time helping out the defence by clearing balls away. ‘Madders’ looked a lot better once Patson Daka and Kelechi Iheanacho came on which allowed him to push forward more and to be more creative, whilst also supplying them with key passes.
Harvey Barnes: 5 – Too slow to react to stray balls, looked to be confused as to what position he was playing in the first half, he didn’t seem to be out on the wing much. Additionally, the winger seemed to just stand around in space when Leicester were out of possession rather than marking a man, which left Justin with two players.
Attackers
Jamie Vardy: 5 – Didn’t do a lot, looked quite poor up front. Neither didn’t take his chances well when he got them; the east Midlands outfit looked more threatening when Daka came on.
Substitutions
Nampalys Mendy: 5.5 – Gave the free kick away on De Bruyne which lead to the goal. Though the Senegalese provided an outlet for defence more than KDH did.
Patson Daka: 6 – Put pressure on the Sky Blues defence, made some good runs. Unfortunately couldn’t get the direction right on his header.
Kelechi Iheanacho: 6 – Squandered some good opportunities which were saved by Ederson. Although did provide a good cross for Daka’s header; helped to make Leicester look more of a threat.