FOXES’ FLAIR FOILS CANARIES

Norwich 1  City 2

Report by Colin Hall

Goals from Jamie Vardy and Jeff Schlupp proved enough to give Leicester City a 2-1 victory at Norwich and take Claudio Ranieri's side back into the top six of the Premier League.

Following the hiding dished out by Arsenal in the previous fixture, it was little surprise that Ranieri opted to reshuffle his defence for the Carrow Road clash, bringing in Premier debutant Christian Fuchs and replacing Ritchie De Laet with Danny Simpson. However, the demotion of Riyad Mahrez to the bench came as a bombshell, although it was a decision which the afternoon's events would vindicate completely.

The Foxes, perhaps understandably in view of the changes in personnel, looked a little tentative in the opening minutes, and Jerome came close to putting the home side ahead with a shot which narrowly cleared Kasper Schmeichel's crossbar.

But as the midfield duo of Danny Drinkwater and N'Golo Kante began to take a grip on the game, the visitors carved a series of chances for which the final touch just proved elusive.

Eventually, though the breakthrough arrived, as Kante sent Vardy clear on goal, only for the striker to collide with Bassong. Many referees may not have ruled the defender's challenge as unfair, but Mark Clattenburg has ruled in the striker's favour before (remember last season's Manchester United game?) and did so again here. Vardy duly picked himself up to send home keeper Ruddy the wrong way from the spot for his seventh goal of the season.

With the home side reeling, Leicester went in search of further spoils, but Schlupp was unable to connect with an excellent Marc Albrighton cross when the merest of contacts would surely have extended the visitors' advantage.

However. the Ghanaian did find the scoresheet in the opening minutes of the second half, with a fine finish after a run from deep inside his own half and an exchange of passes with the impressive Kante.

The Foxes were in total command at this stage, dealing comfortably with home attacks. But when Simpson was forced to leave the field through cramp midway through the half (with Yohan Benalouane, rather than De Laet, introduced to replace him), the Canaries sensed an opportunity to regain a foothold in the game.

It duly arrived within a matter of minutes, as sub Mbokani beat the offside trap (why does Ranieri persist with this?) and forced a Howson cross past Schmeichel from close range to reduce the arrears.

Previous Leicester sides may well have buckled under this type of pressure, but this side is made of stronger stuff. Indeed, sub Leo Ulloa – and many visiting fans – thought he had restored the visitors's two-goal advantage within seconds of him entering the field, but his effort was ruled out for the most minimal of contact between Robert Huth and Ruddy.

During a tense finish, Schmeichel was forced to turn a fierce Redmond drive onto the woodwork in order to preserve his side's lead. Leicester, though, continued to look dangerous on the break, with Vardy coming close on several occasions in the closing stages to extending his goal tally.

After more than six minutes of stoppage time, Clattenburg blew the final whistle to bring joy and relief in equal measure to the travelling hordes who watched the game from either the stand or – as this writer did – the adjoining hotel.

The Foxes' return of 15 points from 8 games represents our best start to a Premier season since 2000-01. But while the side of that era was ultimately undone by lack of managerial experience and squad depth, such factors are notable by their absence in the current set-up.

A top-6 finish may prove beyond this team, at least while it remains unable to keep clean sheets. However, there are enough goals and quality to ensure that prophecies of our demise – still being made by some media pundits – will prove to be highly exaggerated.

Norwich (4-4-1-1): Ruddy; Whittaker, Martin (c), Bassong, Brady; Dorrans (Redmond 50), Howson, Tettey, Jarvis (Mbokani 59); Hoolahan; Jerome (Lafferty 77).

Subs not used: Rudd, Olsson, Bennett, O’Neil.

Goal: Mbokani 68

Leicester (4-4-2): Schmeichel; Simpson (Benalouane 65), Morgan (c), Huth, Fuchs; Albrighton, Drinkwater, Kante, Schlupp (King 77); Okazaki (Ulloa 70), Vardy.

Subs not used: Schwarzer, De Laet, Mahrez, Inler.

Goals: Vardy 28 pen, Schlupp 47

Booked: Huth

Attendance: 27067 (Premier League record for this venue)

Referee: Mark Clattenburg

The views expressed in this report are the opinions of the Trust member nominated to file the report only and do not represent the views of the Foxes Trust organisation