Everton 1 City 2
Report by Kate Thompson
I travelled to Liverpool with low expectations; after all, Everton had beaten us on home turf very recently and when I heard that Vardy wasn’t playing I couldn’t see us going away with anything from this match. Oh ye of little faith! As I have mentioned many times before, my dearest wish is to win the FA Cup but an away tie against Everton meant, I thought, that yet again we would go out at the first hurdle.
Along with other City fans, I was surprised that Ndidi was starting; presumably if Andy King had not been struck by the same illness as Vardy, Ndidi would have been on the bench. But what a start!
I thought he would need some time to get up to speed with the pace and intensity of football in the Premier League, as several of our other new signings have – notably Slimani, Musa and Amartey. Playing alongside Drinkwater and Mendy – the latter only just beginning his season after his bad injury in the first home game of the season – the three-man midfield was very effective and defensively we looked so much more solid.
And Ndidi has one useful asset – he is considerably taller than many of our other players and easily out-jumped Everton players like Lukaku. Maybe it wasn’t the toughest debut for a player but he looked a wonderful prospect; I thought too much was being expected of him, as a replacement for the lost and lamented Kante – time will tell but he has made a fantastic start and was named as man of the match by some commentators.
The first half was pretty well unforgettable, with few chances for either side. Ulloa, acting as the target man, lasted only 35 minutes before needing to go off injured; he was replaced by Musa, one of our smaller players but one blessed with lightning speed.
Despite a few scares, the game was goalless at the break and at that stage, I would have taken a replay at the KPS. In the 63rd minute Deulofeu got the better of Chilwell – an unusual occurrence overall – and Lukaku had the easiest tap-in he has probably ever scored.
I had just said to a friend that we needed to score first so I really thought that it was curtains, but with Leicester I should know that one should expect the unexpected! Musa scored the first of his two goals after a swift counter-attack started by Mendy and continued by Albrighton and Gray; Musa had to have two bites at the cherry and scored what was described as an Okazaki-type goal! Minutes later he was at it again, when he exchanged passes with Drinkwater to slot the ball home and send the City fans into dreamland.
The last minutes were nail-biting but apart from a fantastic save by Schmeichel from Everton substitute Mirallas, we held on for the most unlikely of wins. I will now be watching the draw for the next round and hoping for a home tie.
Everton: Robles, Funes Mori, Williams, Holgate (Deulofeu 46), Coleman, Davies, Barry, Barkley (Kone 75), Baines, Lukaku, Valencia (Mirallas 62). Subs not used: Jagielka, Cleverley, Oviedo, Hewelt
Leicester: Schmeichel, Simpson, Huth, Morgan, Chilwell, Mendy, Ndidi, Drinkwater, Gray (Fuchs 77), Ulloa (Musa 35), Albrighton (Kapustka 84). Subs not used: Hernandez, James, Okazaki, Zieler
Attendance: 35,493 Referee: Martin Atkinson
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