Gary Rowett's nascent tenure at King Power Stadium has blossomed with a quiet, calculated efficiency. It has been a beginning that skirts the periphery of the "very good", but not quite. Yet a ship that had previously seemed intent on finding the seabed is no longer rocking as violently. Should the Foxes dismantle Queens Park Rangers on Saturday afternoon, Rowett will likely find himself canonised by the majority of the Blue Army.
Rowett's alchemy has already vastly improved the East Midlands outfit's prospects of EFL Championship survival. Yet, for all the tactical stability he has introduced, one particular selection for this afternoon's clash has acted as a lightning rod for supporter angst: the inclusion of Jordan Ayew.
Why Leicester City boss Gary Rowett likely started Jordan Ayew
The Ghana international remains a curious enigma within the Leicester ranks. To be fair, his industriousness and shrewdness showed marked improvement against Bristol City. A necessary atonement for a truly pathetic cameo in the Norwich City fixture.
Mukasa 4 Reid ✔️
— ruds72 (@rudfoxes0205) March 14, 2026
Choudhury keeps his place 😡
Ayew keeps his place 😡 😡
Genuine question, what does Ayew actually contribute to the team, would rather start with 10 men.
Really want to see Lascelles start with Nelson, Okoli is just too inconsistent & suspect at times
Nonetheless, Ayew remains a 'striker' who possesses almost no tangible goal threat right now. In a sport governed by the currency of the net's rippling, his drought is a source of constant fan friction.
Choudhury and Ayew ffs… pic.twitter.com/PblZNTMukI
— Sachin Kelsen #RUDKINOUT (@kelsen_sachin) March 14, 2026
This frustration is further compounded by the mild resurgence of Patson Daka. The Zambian, having rediscovered a yard of pace and a clinical edge, offers a more classical profile of what the Leicester talisman has been. Echoes of Jamie Vardy's ghost relentlessly hunting the space behind a high defensive line.
However, Rowett's persistence with Ayew is not born of stubbornness, but of a perceived sophisticated tactical necessity. While Daka stretches the pitch vertically, Ayew functions as the connective tissue of the attack. By dropping deep into the No.10 pocket, the 34-year-old acts as a secondary fulcrum: dragging stubborn centre halves out of position.
This spatial manipulation is essential for City’s primary goal-scoring threats, Jordan James, Abdul Fatawu and Divine Mukasa, to flourish. By coming short, Ayew vacates the primary danger zone, allowing inverted wingers and attacking midfielders to arrive into high-percentage scoring positions.
Promising form
Against a QPR side notorious for deploying a suffocating low block (losing 4-0 to Middlesbrough whilst doing so recently), Rowett clearly values the guile of a link-man over the raw pace of a traditional poacher. It is a gamble of intellectual football over visceral excitement, and one that the LCFC gaffer hopes will be vindicated by the final whistle.