Leicester City 3 Charlton Athletic 0
Report by Stuart Dawkins
They say (wrongly) that statistics never lie. So which statistic should we believe before today's match? The one showing a team at the top of the table playing one in the relegation zone? Or the one which said that Charlton had not lost against Leicester for 10 matches (including winning the fixture at The Valley earlier this season)? It took less than 10 minutes before it became clear that the league positions told the story for today.
City started brightly. The only team change from last week's comfortable win against Ipswich was Mahrez replacing the injured Dyer. Charlton's game plan seemed to be to close down City's back four and disrupt Leicester's patient build-ups. It didn't really work; numerous times in the first 15 minutes, City's midfielders received the ball with far too much space and – as so often this season – Knockaert and Vardy simply looked too fast for lumbering Championship defenders.
Nugent and Vardy linked up well, for the Charlton keeper – Hamer – to close down Vardy's shot. Then, a minute later and with only nine minutes played, Knockaert showed courage and strength to win a challenge in the centre circle, the ball rebounded to Nugent who charged forwards, drew the defender then passed to the unmarked Vardy, who checked, turned and put the ball between Hamer's legs into the goal to take a one-nil lead.
Charlton had no response to City's pace and slick passing. Their principle method of attack was to pump high balls for Church to try to hold up, but as a plan it simply did not work. In the 19th minute, however, Morgan let one of the punts bounce and Schmeichel had to be smart to avoid being chipped by Church for an unlikely equaliser. With the exception of a 30-yard drive by ex-City squad player Adjarevic (remember him??), which flew just over the bar, that was pretty much Charlton's only scoring opportunity in the entire match.
Listing all of City's chances would take far too long. A few particular highlights from the first half: Mahrez showing that he thinks like a traditional winger, beating two markers to get a cross in from an impossible angle on the right for Nugent to head over; a 50-yard cross-pitch ball from Mahrez to Knockaert, who passed to Nugent whose powerful goal-bound shot was blocked for a corner; Vardy chasing numerous chances, but not quite converting them.
By half time, the only worry was that City were only one-nil up when their play warranted more – again, echoing numerous home games this season.
There were no half-time substitutions, former-City defender Morrison having already been replaced by Dervite after just 20 minutes. Within three minutes of the restart, the game really was over. Patient play on the left side of the pitch, involving four or five players in City's own half, resulted in Schlupp being released down the wing, he cut the ball back from the by-line to Nugent whose volley was very well saved by Hamer, but the rebound fell to Drinkwater who, un-marked, composed himself and scored from 10 yards.
It was never likely that Charlton would come back, despite further substitutions, with Hughes and Tudgay replacing Adjarevic and Cousins, and City eased smoothly into the confident style of play which had seen them dominate Ipswich in similar circumstances the previous week. Chance after chance came, with Hamer playing well to keep the score down.
The match-day programme included an interview with Nugent, marking his 50th goal for City, during the Ipswich match. He commented that he had not scored from outside the 18-yard box this season … well he has now! He collected the ball in an unpromising position, and simply picked a spot inside the far post from 20-yards, leaving the keeper with no chance, to make it three-nil.
Pearson took the chance to rest a few players, with Vardy, Drinkwater and James replaced by Wood, King and Hammond. City were still coasting and creating chances. Hamer made another couple of impressive saves and Knockaert hit a volley over the bar when everyone – including him – thought he had scored.
Charlton were poor, although I suspect most City fans will hope they stay up simply because of the respect held for their manager Chris Powell. With the score at three-nil, City fans chanted "There's only one Chris Powell," and the dapper-suited Powell gave a friendly wave back.
Every City player had a decent match (although Schmeichel barely had anything troublesome to do). Whilst Charlton posed little threat, City's back four were almost flawless – particularly Wasilewski who did not put a foot wrong all game.
There is still, of course, enough of the season left that it would be foolish to take promotion for granted, but I admit that for the first time my conversation walking home from the match was not about how much better City had been than their opposition, instead it was to begin to ruminate on which of City's current players might also be able to do a similar job in the Premier League.
Leicester City: Schmeichel, de Laet, Schlupp, Drinkwater, Wasilewski, Morgan, Mahrez,James,Vardy, Nugent, Knockaert. Subs: Hammond, King, Moore, Taylor-Fletcher, Logan, Phillips, Wood
Charlton Athletic: Hamer, Wilson, Wiggins, Poyet, Morrison, Wood, Cousins, Jackson, Church, Adjdarevic, Harriott. Subs: Hughes, Dervite, Green, Ghoochanneijhad, Tudgay, Thuram-Ulien, Fox
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