And that, my good friends, is your lot. Thanks for reading this MBM. Nighty night!
Some Leeds reaction from Stuart Dallas. “We’ve given ourselves an uphill task of getting back into the game. We didn’t start the way we wanted to. It took us 25 to 30 minutes before we found our rhythm and started to play a bit, so it’s always difficult. We knew we were going to have a lot of the ball, and they were going to hit us on the counter, and they’ve done that. They’ve shown quality, and it’s a disappointing night for us, but we got back into it in the second half. We’ll take the positives from this and turn our attention quickly to Saturday. There’s a lot of things we can work on.”
Brendan Rodgers talks to Sky. “I thought they [the Leicester players] were tactically brilliant in the game ... you have to deny Leeds space ... if it becomes a basketball game they cause you problems ... we made it difficult and had the quality to play when they had the opportunities ... I thought we were amazing ... we punished them really well ... I’m really pleased with our flexibility ... it’s still very early but we’ve had brilliant performances ... I’m delighted for the lads.”
Managerial reaction to come soon ... hopefully ... but in the meantime, Paul Wilson’s report has landed. Here it is!
Leeds will of course point to Patrick Bamford’s early header, the fine Pablo Hernandez curler that hit the frame of the goal, and all that second-half pressure. They remain in 12th place, six off the pace. But Leicester could have had a few more tonight, and were worthy winners. They’ve now put four past Leeds at Elland Road and five past Manchester City at the Etihad. They’ve also lost 3-0 at home to West Ham. A strange old season, with a fair few twists and turns yet to come.
FULL TIME: Leeds United 1-4 Leicester City
Brendan Rodgers has done a number on Marcelo Bielsa, having laid out his plans before the match, his players executing them pretty much perfectly. Leicester go second, one point behind leaders Liverpool.
90 min +3: After some penalty-box pinball, Bamford snatches hysterically at a shot and slices over from six yards. It doesn’t matter; the flag’s gone up for offside.
GOAL! Leeds United 1-4 Leicester City (Tielemans 90+1 pen)
Tielemans flicks a delightful penalty into the top left, sending Meslier the wrong way.
Updated
Penalty for Leicester
90 min: The ref trots over to the monitor at VAR’s request. He overturns his non-decision and awards Leicester a penalty. That’s the correct outcome.
Updated
88 min: Maddison looks to gather an Albrighton pass from the right. He’s on the edge of the penalty box. Klich comes through the back of him. This looks like a penalty, though the referee’s not interested and play goes on.
87 min: Albrighton bustles down the right and wins a corner. He’s in no rush to take it himself. Maddison strolls over and whips towards the near post, where Justin fails to connect.
85 min: Morgan’s very first act is to bash a clearing header upfield. No nonsense.
84 min: Thomas is booked for a clip on Poveda out on the right. Leeds load the box. But before the free kick can be taken, Wes Morgan comes on for Vardy, with a remit of seeing this one out in the no-nonsense style.
83 min: Under sends Vardy clear down the middle. Vardy draws Meslier ... but chips weakly wide right. Well that was unexpected. A fourth Leicester goal looked a shoo-in there. Leeds aren’t quite out of it yet. But they need something very soon.
82 min: The corner’s no good. But Leicester don’t clear efficiently, and Alioski has a dig from distance. The ball breaks left to Costa, who wins yet another corner. But once again, the corner is a complete non-event.
81 min: Leeds continue to press. Ayling wins a corner down the right. Before it can be taken, Dallas is replaced by Alioski.
80 min: From the corner, Cooper eyebrows an effort towards the top right. Schmeichel gathers the looping ball.
79 min: Vardy’s goal has visibly deflated the hosts. Do they have one last push in them? Bielsa’s sides never give up, and a corner’s forced down the left. Harrison to take.
77 min: That came out of nowhere, and credit to Brendan Rodgers, his two substitutes combining to set up what will surely be the clincher.
GOAL! Leeds United 1-3 Leicester City (Vardy 76)
Leeds had been pressing hard, but this could be the killer blow. Leicester suddenly spring into action, Maddison turning and spinning away from Ayling before slipping Under into the box on the right. Under draws Meslier and Cooper and chips to the left for Vardy, who rolls into an empty net from 12 yards!
Updated
74 min: A huge penalty shout by Leeds, as Ayling breaks into the box down the right and prepares to be clipped by Fuchs. Ayling falls, Fuchs withdraws, and the referee isn’t interested. To be fair to Ayling, it’s his team-mates making the appeal; he doesn’t utter a peep. The correct decision, backed up by VAR.
72 min: Harrison drops deep to quarterback but hoys a ball straight out for a goal kick on the full. Nothing quite coming off for Leeds in the final third at the minute.
70 min: Hernandez is still theatrically shaking his head at his substitution! Not a happy man as he slowly trudges around the perimeter. And there’s more touchline action as Cengiz Under comes on for Harvey Barnes.
68 min: Bamford chases a long pass down the middle. Schmeichel races out of his box. Both players slightly hesitate before they clash. Eventually the keeper clangs a clearance off the striker, the ball pinging away from danger, Bamford aquaplaning on the floor.
67 min: Pablo Hernandez is replaced by Tyler Roberts. He departs in high dudgeon.
65 min: Leeds have lost much of their early second-half momentum. Leicester have done well to quell their fervour.
63 min: Leicester make their first change in the hope of regaining control of this match. James Maddison comes on for Dennis Praet.
62 min: Vardy spins Cooper and romps down the right. For a second it looks as though he’ll either be tearing free on goal or feeding Barnes in the centre. But Harrison sticks to his back like glue and eventually wrestles him off the ball. A hard but fair challenge, though Vardy doesn’t see it that way as he gesticulates theatrically.
61 min: Klich skims a low shot across the greasy surface from 25 yards. Schmeichel does very well to claim without drama.
60 min: Praet brings down Costa out on the left. A chance to load the box. Leeds play the free kick short and waste it. Leicester haven’t been rocking exactly, but they’ve been forced onto the back foot for the first time in the match, and will be happy no pressure was applied there.
58 min: Klich tries to steal the ball off Tielemans, guarding it while sitting down. Studs meet shin, and Tielemans isn’t totally happy about it, though there’s no real force to his complaint. VAR has a quick check and there’s very little in what looks an accident. We play on.
56 min: Leeds have enjoyed 76 percent of possession since the restart. This is a completely different game.
55 min: Koch fires a long pass down the left in the hope of reaching Harrison. It’s too strong, but Albrighton, unsure, eyebrows it out for a corner. From the set piece, Hernandez picks up possession 20 yards out, opens his body, and curls a delicious shot towards the top right. Schmeichel is out of the game, but the ball caroms off the woodwork and away. Inches from a world-class equaliser!
Updated
53 min: Hernandez slide-rules a ball down the inside-right channel and nearly releases Harrison in to the box. Not quite. Leeds come again, Poveda dribbling purposefully down the right and trying to spring Hernandez clear. Again, it doesn’t quite work, but Leeds look a yard sharper than they did in the opening 45.
52 min: That goal’s given Leeds fresh impetus, as you’d imagine it would. Leicester’s passes aren’t quite sticking like they were in the first half. The dynamic of this match has changed in short order.
50 min: Dallas bustles down the inside-left channel and looks to have been clipped, but there’s no free kick. Incensed, he flies in on Albrighton who was attempting to break back up the Leicester right. It’s a wild slide, and he can’t complain about the yellow card he’s shown. A busy couple of minutes for Leeds United’s left-back.
GOAL! Leeds United 1-2 Leicester City (Dallas 48)
The ball’s rolled back up the wing for Dallas, who crosses towards the far post. The ball bounces through a thicket, touching nobody at all, and bounces into the top-right corner of the net! The ball just kept on going. A freak goal, and one that gives this match an all-new look!
Updated
47 min: Costa earns a corner down the left off Albrighton. Leeds have clearly been given a talking-to. And ...
Leeds get the second half underway. Bielsa’s made one change, removing young Jamie Shackleton and replacing him with Ian Poveda, who was impressive as a second-half sub a few weeks ago here against Manchester City. They’re immediately on the front foot, Harrison trying to release the new man with a raking left-to-right pass. Not quite. Goal kick.
Half-time advertisement. There’s a new definitive history of Leeds United so breezy and enjoyable it’s almost as though the pages turn themselves: The Biography of Leeds United by Rob Bagchi, formerly of this parish. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll never before have read a youthful Jack Charlton described as looking “like a Postcard Records bass player.” Highly recommended.
Updated
HALF TIME: Leeds United 0-2 Leicester City
Justin crosses from the right. Koch makes a mess of a clearance and is fortunate not to tee up Vardy or Barnes. Leeds clear, Costa drawing a foul from Fuchs on the right. The free kick’s swung into the box but easily cleared, and that’s that. As the players trot off, Schmeichel gives the referee what-for, presumably piqued that Leeds were allowed to take that free kick after the one additional minute was up. He’s really ranting on, and would do well to zip it before the ref loses his patience and books him. Otherwise, it’s been a great half for Leicester, who will finish the night in second spot unless Leeds and Marcelo Bielsa have something up their sleeve.
45 min: How Leeds could do with snatching back a goal before the break. They don’t look like getting it, though, wasting another corner.
44 min: Some neat work by Costa and Ayling down the right. Hernandez is teed up, just to the right of the D. His shot is blocked, but Leeds, who have grown in confidence in the last ten minutes or so, come again and win a corner out right through Costa.
42 min: Koch and Ayling get in each other’s way on the halfway line, allowing Vardy to scamper off down the left. Vardy cuts inside and ambitiously looks to curl into the top right from 25 yards. Nope.
40 min: Harrison loops a cross into the mixer from the right. Thomas, with nobody in white near him, clears out for a corner. He nearly swept that into the bottom right. Inches away from a slapstick own goal; as it is, the resulting corner is an over-elaborated mess.
38 min: Ayling plays a cute reverse pass down the inside right channel to release Bamford into the box. Bamford is one on one, but never quite in control and Schmeichel is able to come out to smother a weak chip. For all Leicester’s dominance, Bamford has had two gilt-edged chances. Leicester could be out of sight; equally the scoreline could be level!
Updated
37 min: Barnes and Vardy combine down the right at pace. The ball squirts wide left for Thomas, who looks to curl into the top right. Easy for Meslier.
35 min: Leeds continue to hog possession, but they’re not being allowed to do much with it. The visitors look extremely comfortable.
33 min: Leeds pass and probe, but Leicester hold their shape marvellously. There’s no way through. The super-early Bamford header apart, Schmeichel has had nothing whatsoever to do.
31 min: Vardy goes on a PlayStation run from right to left through the Leeds box, nearly opening the home defence up on a couple of occasions. Ayling sticks to him well and eventually forces the striker to turn tail ... but what a player Vardy is. If Leicester can keep him fit, another title tilt is surely on the cards.
30 min: Leeds have had 64% possession. Leicester could quite feasibly have scored five or six goals. Nine tenths of the law? I don’t think so.
28 min: Albrighton gets to the byline again and whistles a ball across the face of goal. If Thomas connects, he’s slamming home from six yards, Meslier out of position, but fortunately for Leeds the cross flies inches behind him.
26 min: Dallas ships possession to Albrighton down the right. Albrighton skitters along the byline and whips towards Vardy in the middle. Meslier gathers at the near post, but spills the ball off the base of that post. Nearly a farcical own goal. He gathers and takes a deep breath.
23 min: Bielsa, sitting motionless on his bucket, stares at the ground with great intensity. His team are getting ripped to shreds at the back.
GOAL! Leeds United 0-2 Leicester City (Tielemans 21)
Albrighton crosses from the right. Vardy beats Koch at the near post with a diving header. His effort comes off Meslier’s startled face, and twangs back to Tielemans, who can’t miss from six yards. It’s fair to say that second goal had been coming.
Updated
20 min: Another Leicester chance. Shackleton gifts possession to Vardy, who threatens to tear clear but overruns the ball and effectively tackles himself. Then another Leicester chance! Klich gives it away this time, allowing Praet to zip away. He’s bundled over just to the right of the D by Koch, and it looks like a free kick, but the referee isn’t interested. Praet is fuming.
18 min: Hernandez gifts a sloppy ball to Praet, and suddenly Leicester are two on two. Koch and Cooper are skittering back in a panic, with Vardy running at them with extreme prejudice, so are happy when Praet’s attempt to release the striker goes awry. Not entirely sure how there’s just been the one goal scored so far.
17 min: The rain continues to pelt down. An interesting stat from the good folk at Sky Sports: Leicester have never won the Monday Night Football. Played 12, drawn three, lost nine. Thirteenth time lucky?
15 min: This game is being played at 101mph on a slippery pitch. Marvellous. “The peacocks look like they could be badly outfoxed by Vardy and co tonight,” writes Justin Kavanagh. “This has 5-5 written all over it.” Ssh, don’t be giving them ideas, I’m the poor bugger that has to type it all up.
13 min: In a parallel universe, Leicester are already three up. Then again, in another, Bamford would have taken that early chance. And this will make Leeds feel a little better, a combination between Costa and Bamford down the inside right that ends with a snapshot by the latter sailing inches wide of the right-hand post.
12 min: Leeds are all over the shop at the corner. Barnes, Vardy and Justin all have the ball at their feet in the box, but can’t quite work space for a shot. Justin eventually hoicks out for a goal kick.
11 min: Leicester are totally dominant. Albrighton wins the ball down the right and sends Vardy on another scuttle. Vardy tees up Barnes, to the right of the D. Barnes sends a power curler towards the top right. Meslier does very well to turn round the post.
9 min: Vardy drives at Cooper, nearly forcing a mistake that would offer up a chance to shoot from the edge of the D. Not quite, but Leeds look uncharacteristically rattled.
8 min: Leicester unpick Leeds again, Vardy and Barnes combining crisply down the left, the latter tearing clear of Ayling. Barnes is one on one with Meslier, but gets a bit tangled up as he enters the box, allowing Ayling to recover. Between the defender and Meslier, the ball’s bundled out for a corner, from which nothing comes.
6 min: Costa wins the first corner of the match down the right off Thomas. The set piece is wasted. Time for a replay of Marcelo Bielsa’s reaction to Bamford flashing that sitter straight at the keeper. He was fuming. Shame they didn’t run the film on 20 seconds or so; I’d have liked to gauge the amount of steam parping out of his ears when Koch failed to deal with the long ball.
4 min: Brendan Rodgers said there would be plenty of space for Leicester to work with. He wasn’t wrong. Leeds were exposed by a simple long ball as they piled forward in attack. What a start!
Updated
GOAL! Leeds United 0-1 Leicester City (Barnes 2)
This is quite sensational. Leeds should be leading ... but they’re behind! Some neat work between Hernandez and Costa down the right. A long cross to Harrison is headed back to Bamford, six yards out. He flashes a header straight at Schmeichel. Leicester go straight up the other end, Barnes chasing a long pass down the left. Koch steps in, but plays an awful backpass across the face of his box, allowing Vardy to intercept, round the keeper, and roll across for Barnes, who has kept going and rolls home!
Updated
1 min: A couple of early probes down the left by Bamford, with Leeds on the front foot from the get-go. Albrighton stands firm to make sure nobody passes.
A poignant moment of silence to remember World Cup winner Nobby Stiles. The Last Post to remember those lost at war. And a knee of solidarity and love: there’s no room for racism, black lives matter. Leicester get the ball rolling.
Updated
The teams are out! It is absolutely hosing down at Elland Road. Autumn in Yorkshire. Both teams get to gad about in their first-choice gladrags: Leeds in white, Leicester in blue. The captains lay red poppy wreaths by the side of the field in remembrance of the fallen. We’ll be off soon.
Brendan Rodgers talks to Sky Sports. “Leeds play a different style to every other team in the Premier League. Teams normally press in a zone; theirs is very much man to man. So that’s different. They’ve done terrific, have players that are hungry and want to prove themselves at this level, and have a top-class manager. So we respect their qualities. But we also know our own qualities, and hopefully we can exploit them. There will be lots of space on the field. I would say we have the best counter-attacking player in the league in Jamie Vardy, so I hope that’s something we can exploit. But it will be a tough game.”
Leeds captain Liam Cooper is back. He’s one of three changes to the starting XI from the team named at Villa. Jamie Shackleton and Pablo Hernandez, making his first start since the opening day at Anfield, are also in; Pascal Struijk and Ezgjan Alioski drop to the bench, while Rodrigo is missing altogether. He’s self-isolating after coming into contact with someone with coronavirus.
Luke Thomas makes his first appearance of the season for Leicester, one of four changes to the Leicester team named for the win in Athens. Nampalys Mendy, Dennis Praet and Harvey Barnes also step up; Wes Morgan, James Maddison, Hamza Choudhury and Cengiz Under drop to the bench.
Updated
The teams
Leeds United: Meslier, Ayling, Koch, Cooper, Dallas, Klich, Helder Costa, Shackleton, Hernandez, Harrison, Bamford.
Subs: Poveda-Ocampo, Alioski, Roberts, Casilla, Struijk, Davis, Casey.
Leicester City: Schmeichel, Fofana, Thomas, Fuchs, Albrighton, Tielemans, Mendy, Justin, Praet, Barnes, Vardy.
Subs: Morgan, Ward, Iheanacho, Perez, Under, Choudhury, Maddison.
Referee: Andre Marriner (West Midlands).
Preamble
Both of these teams go into tonight’s match on the back of extremely fine performances. Leeds United’s second-half display at Aston Villa last week was the best sustained burst of quality by any team in the Premier League so far this season, while Leicester City meanwhile performed a textbook smash and grab at Arsenal.
Should Leicester win tonight, they’ll go second; should Leeds take the three points, they’ll move into third. Both teams will fancy their chances at Elland Road, and with good justification. Two impressive teams playing for high stakes. This should be a goodie. It’s on!
Kick off: 8pm GMT.
Updated
