Preston 0 City 3
Post Match Analysis by Colin Hall
Leicester City ended a tense – and occasionally highly-turbulent – month with a 3-0 victory at Preston to clinch the 2024 EFL Championship with a game to spare.
The Foxes banished memories of several recent on-the-road wobbles with a result that reflected their dominance of the match. Once Jamie Vardy, who has been resurgent during the run-in. had given the visitors the lead after 36 minutes, the outcome was never in doubt.
Enzo Maresca sprang a surprise before the kick-off, making several changes to the side that had beaten Southampton so convincingly in the previous fixture. Jakub Stolarczyk, Conor Coady, Yunus Akgun and Kasey McAteer were all handed starting berths, with Mads Hermansen and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall among those to make way.
Was this line-up a hint of who may be moving on during the close season? Time will tell..
City began the game in a suitably relaxed and confident mood, backed by an expectant and vociferous following – the largest and loudest on their league travels throughout this ultimately successful season.
Meanwhile the hosts seemed listless and demotivated, with their own promotion hopes having ended weeks ago. They were a pale shadow of the outfit that had seen off both Leeds and Ipswich at this venue earlier in the campaign.
As the visitors stepped up the tempo, a goal always looked likely. McAteer should have provided it when heading an Abdul Fatawu cross wide from close range, but the Foxes were not to be denied for much longer, as Vardy’s slightly mishit left-foot effort found the corner of the Preston net.
With Harry Winks and Ricardo Pereira commanding the midfield, City continued to exert a grip on the game.
The second goal came shortly after the interval, when Wout Faes, having been completely untroubled in defence, took the ball through the opposition as if in homage to the late Preston idol Tom Finney. Although a post denied him the outcome his enterprise and audacity, the rebound fell to the feet of a gleeful Vardy, who despatched the ball into an empty net for his 20th goal of the season.
The remainder of the game was concluded amid increasingly jubilant scenes as the Blue Army took great delight in mocking their Leeds and Coventry counterparts. Both of these fanbases had celebrated their victories over City with unrestrained exuberance, and so it was no surprise that many Foxes took full opportunity to repay them with generous interest.
Further gloss was added to the scoreline when Fatawu, continuing his superb form in recent games, provided another chance for McAteer, and this time the academy product made no mistake with his header.
With victory – and thus the title – long since assured, it was perhaps little surprise that the visitors eased up considerably in the closing stages. However, the home side, by now demoralised and dispirited, were unable to convert any of the few chances that fell to them.
When referee Allison – one of the more accomplished officials seen in this league during recent months – brought proceedings to end, it was the signal for the celebrations to begin in earnest, The entire City squad took to the pitch, accompanied by the coaching staff and several members of the club hierarchy, including the owner.
Despite heavy rain – a regular feature on many of our recent travels – and a leaking roof, the revelries continued for the next half-hour as fans and staff alike celebrated a successful conclusion to City’s challenge for the top spot.
Maresca deserves the maximum respect and credit for being able to see the job through when many observers – and large sections of City’s own support – had voiced doubts about whether he could do so. While the momentum generated by amassing 62 points by the turn of the year, was not completely maintained in the latter months, the manager’s vision and belief proved to be completely vindicated.
But, as indicated by the managers comments in the aftermath of this triumph, tensions remain within the club. The looming clash with the Premier League over alleged breaches of financial rules, plus measures that may be required to avoid further such conflicts, will undoubtedly impair attempts to retain our newly recovered top flight status.
Nevertheless, the fans who have backed City during the past eventful and challenging months in numbers not seen at second-tier level for over 60 years, will eagely anticipate the adventures that lie ahead as the Foxes take further steps towards recapturing past glories.
Preston (3-4-2-1): Woodman; Whatmough, Lindsay, Hughes; Millar, Ledson (Holmes 80), Browne (T Mawene 86), Brady; Keane (N Mawene 86), Frokjaer-Jensen (Stewart 86); Osmajic (Riis 68).
Booked: Hughes, Holmes, Browne, Brady.
Leicester (4-3-3): Stolarczyk; Ricardo, Coady, Vestergaard, Faes; Akgun (Dewsbury-Hall 75), Winks, Ndidi (Choudhury 70); Fatawu (Justin 84), Vardy (Cannon 75), McAteer (Mavididi 70).
Goals: Vardy (36,52), McAteer (67).
Referee: Sam Allison. Attendance: 19 641