Match report: Leicester City 0-0 Brighton
Premier League: Paul Doyle sallied forth to the King Power Stadium to watch yet another underwhelming Premier League contest. Relive his pain ...
Updated
Tottenham Hotspur v West Ham
Premier League: It’s a big game for both teams at White Hart Lane and kick off is in 10 minutes. Follow whatever passes for the action with Rob Smyth.
Full time: Leicester City 0-0 Brighton
Peep! Peep! Peeeeeeeep! It’s all over at the King Power Stadium, where Brighton missed a first half penalty but will probably be the happier of the two teams with a point. They edge six points clear of the relegation zone with some terrifying fixtures to come. Leicester have to settle for their second consecutive draw in the Premier League and remain third in the table, four points clear of Chelsea having played one game more.
Updated
90+4 min: “HIT IT SOLLY! F**KING HELL!!!” comes a loud roar from the touchline, as an unidentified member of Brighton’s coaching staff speaks (well, shouts) for all of us.
Solly March ignores the wise counsel, is dispossessed by Jonny Evans and that is very much that at the King Power Stadium, where the points are shared.
90+3 min: Jamie Vardy gets his head to a cross and the ball hits Lewis Dunk’s extended arm in the penalty area. Leicester appeal for a penalty but none is forthcoming. I’ve seen them given for a lot less.
90+1: Dan Burn hooks the ball out for a corner with Ayoze Perez lurking behind him at the far post. James Maddison sends the ball into the penalty area, where Shane Duffy heads clear under pressure from Jonny Evans.
90 min: Solly March claims a corner but doesn’t get one after the ball appears to go out of play off Jonny Evans.
87 min: It’s worth noting that Dale Stephens, who is already on a yellow and was lucky to avoid a second for what looked like a shove on Wilfred Ndidi, has just dodged another bullet after avoiding a booking for a foul on James Maddison. Lee Mason, our referee, seems in a generous mood this evening.
85 min: Leicester continue to dominate these closing stages as the game enters its knockings. Brighton will rue their missed penalty in the first half but I suspect if you were to offer Graham Potter a draw right now he’d snap your hand off.
Tariq Lamptey gets a slight touch on a Harvey Barnes cross from the left and the ball is put out for a corner by Lewis Dunk. Nothing comes of it.
83 min: Brighton substitution: Aaron Connolly off, Help The Aged’s Glen Murray on. At 36 years old, Murray is 16 years older than the player he’s just replaced and twice the age of his team-mate Tariq Lamptey.
81 min: ... fires over the bar. That’s poor from Maddison, who’s capable of much better.
Updated
80 min: Into the final 10 minutes we go, with Leicester on the front foot in a game that has been good in spots, but largely underwhelming since the interval. Shane Duffy is booked for a foul that gives Leicester City a free-kick five yards outside the penalty area, a little left of centre. It looks perfect for James Maddison, who steps up and ...
78 min: If I was a betting man, which I am from time to time, I might be tempted to have a few pennies on Leicester snatching this game in the closing stages. They’re dominating possession having switched to a 4-1-4-1 formation and have made important changes in personnel in their efforts to win the game at the death. The 11 on the field now are certainly stronger than the 11 who started.
76 min: James Maddison blasts the ball over the bar from distance with a wild shot after running on to a cushioned pass into his path from Jamie Vardy.
74 min: Leicester substitution: Ayoze Perez on for Demarai Gray. “AWAY!” roars Brighton goalkeeper Mat Ryan, as Jonny Evans heads a corner clear.
71 min: The drinks break over, play resumes. Sky Sports flash up a graphic showing that Neal Maupay is Brighton’s top scorer in the Premier League this season with nine goals. The prolific “Own Goals” are next highest, with four. In their next three games, Brighton face Manchester United (h), Norwich (a), Liverpool (h) and Manchester City (h), so it’s fair to say they could do with securing at least a point if not all three here.
67 min: Leicester double-substitution: Youri Tielemans and Harvey Barnes on for Kelechi Iheanacho and Papy Mendy. They immediately adjourn to the sideline for some liquid refreshments which they have done little to earn.
Updated
65 min: Another corner for Brighton, won by Dan Burn. March’s delivery is cleared at the near post by Wilfred Ndidi. Leicester break up the field with Jamie Vardy on the ball, but Tariq Lamptey stays on his feet and eventually robs him of the ball. Excellent defending from the teenager.
64 min: Brighton win a corner. Solly March sends the ball towards the far post, where Jonny Evans leaps highest and clears with a meaty header.
63 min: Leicester are dominating proceedings for the first time in this game, but still aren’t creating much.
61 min: With Leicester on the counter-attack, James Maddison plays a diagonal ball to Jamie Vardy on the right side of the Brighton penalty area. With his path to goal blocked, he pulls the ball into the path of Wilfred Ndidi, galloping towards the edge of the penalty area.
As the Leicester midfielder shapes to rifle the ball home, he appears to get a nudge in the back from Dale Stephens – who is already on a yellow card – that knocks him off balance, but referee Lee Mason is unmoved and doesn’t award a free-kick.
60 min: James Maddison runs on to a bouncing ball and fires goalwards from the edge of the Brighton penalty area, but his effort fizzes wide.
Updated
58 min: Brighton triple-substitution: Davy Propper, Solly March and Leandro Troussard come on for Neal Maupay, Alexis MacAllister and Yves Bissouma.
58 min: Demarai Grtay sends a cross into the Brighton penalty area which is cut out by Lewis Dunk.
56 min: Aaron Mooy tries to pick out Alexis MacAllister with a cross from deep to the far post. He overcooks his delivery and the ball drifts wide.
Updated
54 min: Jamie Vardy heads a cross from the right across the face of Brighton’s goal. The header clear is weak and the ball drops kindly for Ben Chilwell. The Leicester left-back snatches at his shot and fires well wide. That was an excellent opportunity wasted.
Updated
53 min: Leicester enjoy a rare spell of sustained possession, but lose the ball when Ben Chilwell’s ball into the penalty area is cleared by Yves Bissouma.
52 min: Jonny Evans plays the ball wide to James Justin, who tries to pick out Demarai Gray in the middle. His touch is poor and he cedes possession.
Updated
50 min: Ben Chilwell sends the ball into space down the left flank, prompting Shane Duffy to unceremoniously leather into an advertising hoarding at the side of the pitch.
49 min: Nerd corner: despite enjoying just 37% of the possession in the first half, Brighton had eight shots to Leicester’s three.
47 min: The camera cuts to Brendan Rodgers who has a notebook in his hand. The formation he has drawn on the visible page appears to suggest he’s going to have Wilfred Ndidi playing as a lone holding midfielder sooner rather than later. Back on the field, Neal Maupay shoots from distance but fires wide.
Second half: Brighton 0-0 Leicester City
46 min: Leicester City get the ball rolling for the second half, with no changes in personnel on either side. I’m surprised Leicester haven’t made any tweaks as they’ve looked bereft of ideas so far this evening.
Half-time: Leicester City 0-0 Brighton
It’s all square. The deadlock remains unbroken but it was certainly one of the more entertaining halves of football I’ve seen since Project Restart ... er, started. Graham Potter will the more pleased of the two managers. His players have looked more inventive, more committed, more motivated and – whisper it – more fit than their opponents.
45+5 min: Brighton have been dominant throughout a first half in which Jamie Vardy, Kelechi Iheanacho, James Maddison and Demarai Gray have all been conspicuously quiet. They’ve failed to capitalise on their dominance, however, not least thanks to Neal Maupay’s penalty miss on 16 minutes.
45+3 min: Lamptey attacks down the right touchline again, but James Maddison puts the ball out for a throw-in. Moments later, James Justin puts the ball out for a corner under pressure from Neal Maupay. It’s their sixth of the game, compared to Leicester’s one, but Jamie Vardy is back to head the delivery clear.
45+1 min: We’re into the first of six minutes of added time. Caglar Soyuncu scuffs a header wide from close range after a Wilfred Ndidi shot is deflected into his path. It was a tight angle and he was taken by surprise, but perhaps should have done better.
45 min: Dale Stephens has a shot blocked from Brighton’s latest corner and Leicester clear their lines.
44 min: James Justin concedes another corner as Lewis Dunk tries to head the ball goalwards after getting on the end of a Mooy cross.
Updated
43 min: Aaron Mooy shoots from distance, just outside the Leicester penalty area. His low drive is deflected wide for a corner.
40 min: Jamie Vardy tries and fails to take advantage of a brief rush of blood to the head of Brighton goalkeeper Mat Ryan. The Australian threw the ball to nobody in particular and then had to scramble in a most unedifying manner and beat Vardy for toe as the Leicester striker tried to capitalise on his error.
Updated
38 min: The camera cuts to Aaron Connolly during a break in play. Showing a healthy disregard for health and safety during the current global pandemic, he hoiks up a generous gully of spittle from the recesses of his throat and flobs it out on the well manicured grass.
37 min: Dale Stephens gets a yellow card for a late tackle on Leicester City midfielder Nampalys Mendy.
35 min: Aaron Mooy robs the ball from Ben Chilwell and sets of on a run down the right flank. His expedition comes to an abrupt end as he runs down a blind alley.
34 min: Wilfred Ndidi gets booked for putting an illegal stop to an ambitious gallop from Tariq Lamptey, who had skipped past two players as he danced down the right touchline.
30 min: Despite their penalty miss, Brighton haven’t let their heads drop and continue to boss the game. Jamie Vardy and Kelechi Iheanacho have had very little to work with so far.
Vardy gets only his second touch of the game as he leaps at the far post to get his head to a Ben Chilwell cross from the left touchline. The delivery is a mite too high for him and he can only send the ball looping into the grateful embrace of Mat Ryan.
27 min: Aaron Connolly shoots over the bar when scoring looked easier, due in no small part to a desperate and timely lunge from Caglar Soyuncu. “FOR F**K’S SAKE!!!” screams somebody or other with Brighton affiliations, their profanity echoing across the stadium.
26 min: Lamptey returns to the fray, boasting a swollen lip that is now covered in Vaseline after shipping a whack to the face. Leicester corner – James Maddison sends the ball into the mixer, where Dale Stephens heads it clear for Brighton.
Updated
24 min: Duffy has come on for Webster, but Tariq Lamptey is still receiving running repairs on the sideline.
22 min: The players convene for their drinks break, after which Shane Duffy will replace Adam Webster in the heart of Brighton’s defence. It also looks like Martin Montoya will replace Tariq Lamptey.
20 min: There’s a break in play as Brighton centre-back Adam Webster receives treatment for a knee injury. His team-mate, Tariq Lamptey is also receiving medical attention for what seems to be a cut on his mouth.
18 min: Some housekeeping: James Justin was booked in the wake of that foul on Aaron Connolly that led to the penalty. It was a weird foul - he had the legs to get between Connolly and the ball as the young Irishman raced on to a ball over the top from Aaron Mooy, but seemed to get his feet in a tangle as he tried to hack the ball clear and ended up tripping the striker.
17 min: Brighton win a free-kick wide on the right, in line with the edge of the penalty area. Aaron Mooy and Alexis McAllister stand over the ball, before the former sends it into the Leicester penalty area. Jonny Evans heads clear.
15 min: It’s a let-off for Leicester, whose goalkeeper has prevented them from going a goal down early doors. It was a poor penalty from Neal Maupay, who semaphored his intentions pre-kick and then hit the ball at the perfect height for the goalkeeper, who didn’t need to stretch too far to save it.
Schmeichel saves from Maupay!
Oh Neal! Kasper Schmeichel dives to his right and saves a fairly poor effort from Neal Maupay. It remains scoreless at the King Power Stadium.
Updated
VAR CHECK!
Jon Moss is the man in Stockley Park and after a long deliberation, the penalty stands.
PENALTY FOR BRIGHTON!
Aaron Connolly finds himself through on goal and is brought down by James Justin, who gets himself in all sorts of bother despite getting himself between Connolly and the ball. Lee Mason points to the spot.
Updated
8 min: Good work from Tariq Lamptey, who makes his Premier League debut for Brighton at right-back today following his move from Chelsea in January. He makes good ground down the right flank before over-hitting his cross from deep into the penalty area.
Updated
7 min: Brighton enjoy a period of sustained possession but do little with it, playing the ball hither and yon inside their own half, with all four defenders and goalkeeper Mat Ryan getting a touch.
6 min: James Justin gallops down the inside right channel for Leicester before sending a cross into the Brighton penalty area. It’s headed clear.
5 min: A bit of a lull as play is concentrated in the middle third, with both teams exchanging throw-ins.
Updated
3 min: A lively start from Brighton, who go on the attack again. James Justin does well to clear for Leicester after good work down the right from Brighton’s Neal Maupay.
2 min: Alexis McAllister shoots the free-kick into the Leicester wall with his right foot, before sending a cross into the penalty area with his left. Ben Chilwell puts the ball out for a corner, which Caglar Soyuncu leaps to head clear.
2 min: Aaron Connolly wins an early free-kick for Brighton in a dangerous area, a little left of centre.
Leicester City v Brighton is go!
1 min: It’s the new, weird normal but it’s the only one we’ve got at the moment. To complete silence at the King Power Stadium, Brighton get the ball rolling shortly after all present take a pre-match knee.
Not long now: Wearing green shirts, black shorts and green socks, the players of Brighton are first out on to the pitch. In the home dressing room, their hosts are going through their last-minute preparations. They wear their usual home kit of blue shirts, white shorts and blue socks. Kick-off is just a few moments away.
Squires: Our resident cartoonist runs his eye over top flight football’s re-emergence from lockdown with predictably hilarious consequences. [Warning: may contain Neal Maupay-related mockery of a crowd-funded Manchester City protest banner that could cause you to cough up a lung from laughing.]
Lend us your ears ...
The Guardian’s Football Weekly podcast has moved to three days a week, which means we’ve two in the can for your listening pleasure already. Today’s is a kind of European special, featuring news from Italy, Spain, Germany, Russia and Scotland, with special focus on the embarrassing contents of my bedroom mantelpiece.
Yesterday, we rounded up the weekend return to Premier League action and arrived at the conclusion that it was a little underwhelming ... unlike our searing, white-hot analysis. If you’re not already a subscriber to our completely free, award-winning podcast, where have you been? You can download it in all the usual podcast places.
Updated
Those teams ...
Brendan Rodgers makes three changes to the side that drew at Vicarage Road on Saturday, with Youri Tielemans, Marc Albrighton and Harvey Barnes making way for Demarai Gray, Nampalys Mendy and Kelechi Iheanacho.
Graham Potter also rings the changes foillowing his side’s win against Arsenal. Exequiel Scheletto, Pascal Gross, Davy Propper and Leandro Trossard are rotated out of the starting line-up, with Tariw Lamptey, Dale Stephens, Alexis MacAllister and Aaron Connollly coming in.
Leicester City v Brighton line-ups
Leicester: Schmeichel, Justin, Evans, Soyuncu, Chilwell, Ndidi, Mendy, Iheanacho, Maddison, Gray, Vardy.
Subs: Morgan, Tielemans, Albrighton, Ward, Barnes, Perez, Choudhury, Praet, Fuchs.
Brighton: Ryan, Lamptey, Webster, Dunk, Burn, Stephens, Bissouma, Mooy, Mac Allister, Connolly, Maupay.
Subs: Duffy, Trossard, Gross, Murray, March, Schelotto, Montoya, Propper, Button.
Referee: Lee Mason (Lancashire)
Tonight’s match officials
Referee: Lee Mason.
Assistants: Mark Scholes and Neil Davies.
Fourth official: Jonathan Moss.
VAR: Graham Scott.
Graham Potter speaks
Brighton’s Neal Maupay grabbed the headlines at the weekend, scoring their late winner having earlier enraged assorted Arsenal players with what they felt was an unnecessary shove on Bernd Leno, that directly preceded an awkward fall resulting in a serious knee injury for the goalkeeper. From that moment on, Maupay was targeted by Arsenal midfielder Matteo Guendouzi, who subjected him to verbal taunts before grabbing him around the throat at the final whistle.
Guendouzi has escaped punishment for that particular act of aggression, while Brighton’s manager has said he doesn’t expect Maupay to dwell on the incident as he goes in search of his 10th Premier League goal of the season in tonight’s game. “I don’t think so, knowing Neal, knowing the type of person he is, the type of character he is,” he said. “He doesn’t care too much about what people say about him, or what people think about him. He’s single-minded, determined for himself, determined for the team. He wouldn’t go on to the pitch to hurt anybody but, if he has something to say, he’ll speak his mind, that’s how he is.”
Brendan Rodgers speaks
“You can never beat that feeling of what happened a few years ago and that will always be the greatest story in the history of Leicester City,” said Leicester’s manager when asked about his short-term ambitions ahead of tonight’s game. “But we can still write our own history, and I’ve told the players that. That is what we’ve been trying to do since we’ve been in here, creating records, and we’ve got an unbelievable opportunity this year to go and do it again.
“The mentality here is that every single game is big. The mistake you make is when you think some games are easier than others – the big mentality is knowing that every single game can trip you up. That is the mindset, if you’re a big team and playing well everyone wants to beat you.
“We’ve set a number of goals to look to achieve this season and we’re well on course to achieve most of them. The players are hungry and motivated to finish the season strongly.”
Early team news
Having sat out Leicester’s draw against Brighton with a calf injury, Belgian midfielder Dennis Praet is available for selection today. Daniel Amartey and Ricardo Pereira remain sidelined, the latter with an achilles injury that is likely to keep him sidelined until October at the earliest.
For Brighton, Jose Izquierdo remains out with the serious knee injury thatr has blighted the past 18 months of his career and will play no part in the remainder of the season. His absent Colombian winger aside, Graham Potter has a full squad to choose from.
Premier League: Leicester City v Brighton
Fresh from their smash-and-grab against hapless Arsenal at the Amex Stadium on Saturday, Brighton travel to Leicester hoping to put more distance between themselves and their fellow relegation strugglers. Third in the table and looking good for a berth in next season’s Champions League, Leicester marked their return from lockdown with a draw against Watford, in another match featuring plenty of late drama. Kick-off at a practically deserted King Power Stadium is at 6pm (BST), but stay tuned in the meantime for team news and build-up.
Updated
