Leicester City 3 – 0 Burnley
Report by Stuart Dawkins
City’s historic mid-week Champions League win had home fans in a positive mood, but most also realised that a good result against Burnley was needed to get the season properly started. In the end, the result was comfortable and the performance back to the style and quality of last season.
Ranieri made a couple of changes to Wednesday’s team. Simpson returned from injury at right-back and Zieler replaced the injured Schmeichel in goal. The announcement of league-debutant Slimani triggered an even-louder-than-usual response from the crowd. He spent much of the warm-up chattering away to Mahrez, and looked relaxed as took his position in the line-up.
Unusually, City kicked-off facing the Kop end – why don’t more away clubs make the home team do that; disturbing, if only slightly, the home team’s normal set-up? The match soon settled into pattern of City’s fast-passing 4-4-2 against Burnley’s well-drilled 4-5-1.
City fans took a real boost around the 8th minute, with Mahrez’s trickery beating a number of players down the right, before forcing a corner. It was just about the first piece of Mahrez magic the King Power stadium had seen this season, and it proved to be only the first of the afternoon as City’s longest-serving Algerian re-found last season’s form.
City had a lot of possession, using both flanks, but for most of the half, Burnley’s dogged resilience kept the home team at bay. The crowd – as ever – cheered their team on, but also remembered that Burnley had beaten Liverpool a few weeks ago when similarly over-run.
There had been few clear-cut chances for either side … then came two good ones in less than a minute. Burnley had the first, a cross from the left, a couple of headers but eventually a comfortable save for Zieler. Seconds later, City broke down the left, Fuchs delivered another in a series of excellent crosses and Mahrez headed just wide from close range – with much of the stadium already out of their seats expecting a goal.
Slimani looks comfortable with City’s style, linking up with Vardy and holding the ball up well. He had a couple of chances – choosing to attempt a pass once instead of shooting, and then just failing to connect with a header. He had another shot comfortably saved and it looked as though Burnley’s defensive attitude was going to hold out for the first 45 minutes.
Then came one of those moments which infuriate football managers. Into the two minutes of added time, Burnley conceded a needless free kick on the left wing. Fuchs swung in another perfect cross and Slimani headed home. The 1-0 score at half time was just about deserved, but Sean Dyche will have been livid at the way the lead was conceded so late.
The Leicester Riders basketball team paraded around the pitch during the interval with the two trophies they won last season: the crowd’s chants of ‘Campeones’ emphasising what good sporting form the city of Leicester is in at the moment, then it was back to the football.
Neither side made changes at half time. City started quickly, and within a couple of minutes had doubled their score. Vardy found Mahrez down the right with a good pass, the winger found the by-line, his cross was deflected just behind Vardy, who somehow managed to get a heel to the ball as it passed, setting it up for an easy header for Slimani from close range.
The second goal seemed to suck the energy from Burnley, and much of the rest of the match was played out looking exactly what it was: the league champions playing against a newly-promoted side. Burnley brought on two strikers, moving themselves to a 4-4-2 formation. This had the effect of increasing the ease with which Leicester dominated the midfield, although it did provide the visitors with more of an attacking threat than in the first half when loan-striker Gray was a forlorn figure.
City were breaking down the left-hand flank with alarming frequency, and another goal seemed likely at any time. In the event, it actually came from the right: Slimani’s pass releasing Mahrez, whose cross was inadvertently diverted into his own goal by City old-boy Ben Mee – who had otherwise had a decent game, keeping Vardy relatively quiet.
The game was over as a contest, and Ranieri took the opportunity to give a rest to Drinkwater and Mahrez, bringing on King and Gray. Burnley’s right-back – Lowton – completed a torrid afternoon by being booked for a high challenge on Drinkwater which might well have seen a red card on another day. To Burnley’s credit, they did keep pushing forward when they could and with a couple of minutes to go a 30-yard free-kick took a big deflection; Zieler did very well to change direction and make a save to keep the final score at 3-0.
This was a much better league performance by City, with a number of positives. Mahrez looked back to his Player of the Season form. Albrighton – no doubt boosted by his historic goal in Bruges – looked to have added a real directness to his play. The defence was solid, and Zieler had a good game –without having too much to do. As wonderful as last season was, it was rare that Vardy’s strike-partner looked like scoring many goals – today Slimani scored two; that bodes well for the future, with teams who set up to ‘stifle Vardy and Mahrez’ now also having to handle another goal-threat with an excellent record.
A good day at the office, with the fact that this result means that City will be unbeaten at home in the league for a whole calendar year going almost un-noticed. Now, what’s next? Chelsea, Man U, Porto, Man City – no pressure there then!
Leicester: Zieler, Simpson, Morgan, Huth, Fuchs, Mahrez, Amartey, Drinkwater, Albrighton, Slimani, Vardy. Subs: Hernandez, Musa, King, Hamer, Okazaki, Gray, Ulloa
Burnley: Heaton, Lowton, Keane, Mee, Ward, George Boyd, Hendrick, Marney, Defour, Arfield, Gray
Subs: Flanagan, Vokes, Kightly, Bamford, Robinson, Gudmundsson, Tarkowski
Attendance: 31,916
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