Liverpool 1 City 0
Report by Kate Thompson
Football fans the world over appear to have been waiting for the Leicester City bubble to burst and even the most optimistic of City fans must have wondered how long we could continue on this wonderful run. I was reminded that in our Championship winning season we went top on Boxing Day and stayed there for the rest of the season.
Hopefully the reverse would not be true! City made one change, bringing back Robert Huth in place of Wasilewski; the Pole had played well against Everton and there were some who thought he should have been given another game. Kramarić made a rare appearance on the bench.
I had more confidence for this game than the previous one against Everton, but Liverpool played us at our own game. They pressed from the off and the first part of the game was played at a frenetic pace. Unfortunately it was all Liverpool and we spent much of the first half pegged back into our own half.
Too many players had an off day – Vardy was nothing like his usual mercurial self, Mahrez was anonymous and even the normally reliable Fuchs was poor. We learnt afterwards that Vardy was suffering from a ‘fever’ and I wonder if some of the other players were sickening for something. The only ones to come out of the game with any credit were Schmeichel – who in truth didn’t have much to do – Kanté, Simpson, Huth and Morgan.
City had a few half chances but little to get the fans out of their seats, and failed to score for the first time this season, an amazing statistic in this unbelievable year. After their first defeat to Arsenal, City bounced back to win at Norwich but Manchester City will be a much sterner test.
At the time of writing, Arsenal have gone top but if Leicester can win tonight we will reclaim that position. One friend asked me if I was getting nose bleeds at such a height!
The single goal came in the 63rd minute from Benteke; it looked soft but the MOTD pundits said it was a good goal and who am I to argue? City huffed and puffed but were never going to blow the Liverpool house down and we have to accept that the better team won.
Ranieri made a double substitution in the 69th minute, bringing on Dyer for Okazaki and Ulloa for Vardy, and then Kramarić made a cameo appearance in the 80th minute for Mahrez. If the wheels were to fall off now, it would be a terrible disappointment but hopefully the players have seen what they can achieve and want more if it.
Leicester: Schmeichel, Simpson, Morgan, Huth, Fuchs, Mahrez (Kramaric 80), King, Kante, Albrighton, Okazaki (Dyer 69), Vardy (Ulloa 69). Subs not used: De Laet, Wasilewski, Schwarzer, Inler
Liverpool: Mignolet, Clyne, Lovren, Sakho, Moreno, Henderson, Can, Lallana (Allen 90 +2:10), Firmino, Coutinho (Lucas 90 +0:38), Origi (Benteke 38). Subs not used: Toure, Bogdan, Teixeira, Randall
Attendance: 44,123 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