Leicester City hosted Graham Potter’s Chelsea as former players revisit the King Power. Here are the player ratings as the fixture unfolded.
The Foxes came into the game 15th in the Premier League after 25 games played and 24 points gained. Obviously much more was expected of this season, but things did not pan out as we would have liked.
Leicester City starting XI
Brendan Rodgers picked: Danny Ward, Daniel Amartey, Wout Faes, Harry Souttar, Timothy Castagne, Ricardo Pereira, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Papy Mendy, James Maddison, Patson Daka, and Kelechi Iheanacho. A 3-4-1-2 formation with plenty of technical and defensive versatility. On first glance this is a great line-up.
Then subs include: Jonny Evans, Daniel Iversen, Luke Thomas, Boubakary Soumare, Wilfred Ndidi, Dennis Praet, Tete, Harvey Barnes, and Jamie Vardy. I had expected to see Barnes, Tete, and Evans at some point.
Player ratings
Danny Ward – 6
The goalkeeper was not involved much during the early phases of the game. The travellers created seldom chances against the Foxes, but Ward made zero saves. Those chances which were created against Leicester either hit the cross bar or were missed.
For Chelsea’s first goal, the Welshman’s positioning was utterly shambolic. He stood in the middle hoping to cover more of the goal but leaving his near post exposed for a rocket: Ben Chilwell converted a chance after Harry Souttar had dealt with the initial corner cross. For the offside goal, he tried very little, and for the second goal, Ward was again unable to make any impact.
Our No.1 made his first save against Wesley Fofana. This is of course worth three extra rating levels. On top of that, the King Power side conceded corner after corner, and Ward did pull of a fantastic save with an acrobatic reaction as Chelsea were gifted a free header.
Timothy Castagne – 5
The Belgian left wing-back was involved throughout the match. From the start, the left-flank has been the progressive path the King Power side took. He linked up well with others though little came from the passing on the left. Beyond this, the first half saw Castagne not defensively proactive enough to constrict in dangerous positions; this cannot be fully attributed to the Belgian, but he could have done more.
Daniel Amartey – 4 (Taken off)
Sigh. The Ghanaian was once again his usual self: not good enough. Missing an absolutely golden opportunity to equalise minutes after Chelsea’s first goal, trying one of those cross field low-passes into a dangerously pacy midfield giving possession away for big chances, and not showing enough reactiveness to disrupt the game.
Harry Souttar – 7
In the first half, the Australian defender showed two things most: the ideal Evans replacement, and aerial prowess. On multiple occasions, Souttar disrupted play with neat tackles, prevented chances with good aerial challenges, and he clearly knows when to start tracking runners. That being said, in the first half of the first half, he lacked that activeness to track which led to chances.
Wout Faes – 3 (sent off)
The Belgian defender is certainly a lively character. With Amartey and Souttar alongside, the player can afford to be more aggressive with defensive actions and apply more pressure to opposition attackers and force them to pass back. This happened plenty of times. However, his lack of awareness and activeness allowed runners through.
Again in the second half, the player lacked defensive awareness to challenge in the air. Only having on centre-back being aerially competent caused us too many issues in the fixture. The Foxes saw incessant chances against them from headers. It also does not help that a lack of composure led to him being sent off: will Rodgers finally play Caglar Soyuncu? Probably not.
Ricardo Pereira – 6
The Portuguese right-back started off really well. Aggression to break up attacking plays, hunger to impact the match, a desire to get forward and support Iheanacho or Maddison, Pereira was simply good at most times.
However, during that first half, the player was often skinned by Joao Felix, except one time he won the ball with a quick tackle and pass. This quick pass was what gave Daka the space to place a rifled shot and score an equalising goal.
The player remained aggressive into the second half, though this somehow led to a yellow card early, the right-back become more involved further up the pitch which created more passing options for midfielders. This led to multiple chances, and almost created a goal for Jamie Vardy when he came on in the second half.
Papy Mendy – 7 (taken off)
Mendy was great. His positioning was superb in the first half, his passing was simple but neat, and on occasion the player made last minute defensive actions to disrupt dangerous phases of play. Beyond that, the midfielder did give the ball away a few times.
There is not much to say about the midfielder: tidy but not excellent I suppose fits closely enough. He was taken off so Soumare could come on, which I feel is a more progressive-minded substitution although it did not pay off.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall – 6
KDH offers Leicester City a lot: passing, progression, goal threat, and defensive pressure. We saw all of this later in the first half, however this was not seen early in the half, where the player was unable to set the tempo and control midfield. Luckily, the English midfielder saw joy supporting rushing wing-backs and Madders.
The player missed another golden opportunity for the Foxes as Barnes put in a brilliant cross towards the edge of the penalty box. He should have scored and equalised for Leicester. On top of that, defensively he offered little.
James Maddison – 8 (Taken off)
JM10 remains integral to the way the Foxes create and score chances. All open-play goes through the maestro, and today was no different. In the first half, from the get go he offered talented flare to retain the ball, and creative vision to penetrate defensive plays. All that could have improved his first half would have been a goal.
Kelechi Iheanacho – 6 (Taken off)
The Nigerian striker did not find form during the fixture. Leicester got the player involved frequently enough to impact the match as the forward links up well with rushing wing-backs and the ever-present English attacking-midfielder. However, Iheanacho did not score despite a chance and sometimes chose the wrong pass crushing an opportunity.
Patson Daka – 6 (Taken off)
The Zambian was the goal scorer. Therefore, the player is lucky to have the score he has. Daka is a pacy and energetic player who seemingly did not have this for much of the match. A lack of movement and poor choices in passing were omni-present. I cannot judge him for his lack of involvement as his role is to make runs in-behind, not come deep to support.
Harvey Barnes – 6
The English left-winger brought on some much needed energy when he came on and created multiple chances with runs in-behind. His interplay should have led to goals for Dewsbury-Hall and Vardy. That being said, he did not score, nor did he assist, so he cannot get higher than a six.
Tete – 5
The Brazilian got involved immediately upon being brought on. However, he failed to live up to the hype again, and this time was unable to create much or provide much for Leicester. The Foxes did see Tete and Pereira linking up fairly well. He was wasteful so a five is fitting.
Boubakary Soumare – 5
The Frenchman was fine. I think unimpressive and maybe not the right substitution is the correct analysis: the player should not have replaced a Mendy who was performing perfectly fine. Nevertheless, his lack of defensive tacking did provide Chelsea a chance and eventually the third goal.
Jamie Vardy – 5
The English striker missed chances and did little to impress me after coming on with 15 minutes left to go. I cannot provide him much more as Vardy had little opportunity to impact the game and little support especially after Faes was sent off and Maddison taken off. A lack of confidence, creativity, and impact means he did little.
Jonny Evans – 5
Welcome back Evans! I give him a five because he had zero chance to be impactful and so I cannot really say he played well. Good to see him back in the XI.