CITY 2 CHELSEA 1
Report by Eddie Blount
A full house at the King Power roared Leicester on to a famous victory against opponents who had beaten them on each of the last eight occasions the clubs have met. Well they do say Foxes never quit! The result sends City back to the top of the table two points clear of the pack. Incredibly Chelsea hover perilously close to the relegation zone though frequent chants by City supporters that ’You’re going down with the Villa’ were somewhat tongue-in-cheek.
Chelsea set up somewhat defensively with the irascible Costa playing alone up front. He quickly endeared himself to the crowd with a display of petulance and bad temper that any pantomime villain would have envied. Apart from that and getting Vardy booked at the beginning of the second half by aggressive over reaction to a tackle of less than one on the tackling equivalent of the Richter Scale, he did nothing.
This did not surprise me having seen Chelsea recently where he gave a whole new meaning to the phrase striker rotation, a perfect description of his off-the-ball movement. After the game Mourinho stated that several players should feel that they did not do enough tonight and I am certain Costa was top of his list
The general pattern of the whole game was that Chelsea dominated possession but did little with it, yet City were much more threatening and direct when they did recover the ball. A mention here for Kante who was my Man of the Match in spite of other strong contenders. His ability to win challenges is unsurpassed as is the level of fitness he displays throughout the game.
Chances were few and far between but these are cat and mouse games and when the chance comes you have to take it. And did City do just that! On the 33rd minute a quick break led to good work by Ulloa before he fed Mahrez, widish right. Mahrez glided – yes that’s exactly what he does – infield, looked up and delivered a gem of a cross between the centre-backs and the keeper. Vardy anticipated the delivery perfectly and in one movement smashed a volley past Curtois. It took as Brian Clough used to say only a second to score a goal and one of high quality
So far very similar to the Man Utd match but this time City saw it out to the interval with relative ease. Considering they had lost Drinkwater with what seemed to be a hamstring injury, capably replaced by the indefatigable King, City were well pleased with their first half’s work.
Vital that we did not concede at the start of the second half and in truth Chelsea huffed and puffed but never threatened to blow City’s house down until to magnificent acclaim City went two up! And what a fantastic goal it was.
Albrighton, who again showed what a mistake Villa made in letting him go for free, made ground down the left, turned back inside – well he is predominantly right-footed – and saw Mahrez lurking unmarked on the edge of the far 6-yard box. A cross perfectly brought under control by the Algerian was followed by a few seconds of unmatched artistry as defenders flew across to block his path. Knowing that they were unlikely to be rash enough to risk a tackle Mahrez teased them one way then the other before moving the ball on to his favoured left foot and curled it exquisitely into the far corner of Curtois’ net. His 11th goal of the season – Vardy has scored 15 – and I doubt he has scored a better one. No other player on the pitch would have scored with such apparent ease from that position.
The match now moved into its critical phase. Chelsea took off Oscar (replaced by Fabregas) and then Terry and brought Remy on to play up front with Costa who still looked as though he would be more at home on a stage than a pitch. Chelsea had even more possession from this point onwards but as before they were largely unable to turn it into chances.
One melee in the centre of City’s goal and then a clear chance as Costa trundled in on Schmeichel who foiled him by blocking the shot with his legs, but that was about it until suddenly Chelsea decided that a cross might be better than messing about on the touchline for minutes at a time before losing the ball. The industrious – by Chelsea standards – Pedro crossed first time for Remy to lose his marker and head powerfully past Schmeichel.
This was the testing point for City – and they passed with flying colours. In the final twenty minutes Chelsea never really threatened to equalise and the nerves of the crowd were replaced by a brash confidence and a rendition of ‘Shall we sing a song for you.’
Credit to Ranieri for stiffening midfield in this period, bringing on Inler in place of Mahrez who left to a well deserved standing ovation. Chelsea were a spent force and even five minutes of added time didn’t really set the nerves jangling. This was City’s night. The plight of Chelsea might best be summed up by the performance of Willian. Earlier this year when Chelsea beat us 1-3 he was totally outstanding; tonight he was mediocre
City: Schmeichel, Simpson, Morgan, Huth, Fuchs, Mahrez (Inler 82), Drinkwater (King 17), Kante, Albrighton. Ulloa, Vardy (Okazaki 88)
Chelsea: Curtois, Ivanovic, Zouma, Terry (Fabregas 53), Azpilicueta, Ramires, Matic, Willian, Oscar (Remy 65), Hazard (Pedro 31), Costa
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