Full-time: Leicester 1-3 Chelsea
Briefly it looked like Leicester’s amazing run would continue and Chelsea’s coronation would be delayed. But then reality, and Chelsea, bit back. A commanding fightback by the visitors was crowned by three second-half goals and that means that on Saturday Chelsea could claim the Premier League title by beating Crystal Palace at home. Leicester, meanwhile, must carry on fighting for survival: there was plenty in this performance to keep their belief alive.
90+1 min: Mourinho makes his last change, withdrawing Fabregas and replacing him with Mikel. You know the match is won when you see a change like that.
90 min: What a burst by Zouma! he stomps through two tired tackles in midfield and bears down on the home box. But then mislays his pass.
88 min: Chelsea substitution: Hazard of, Cuadrado on.
86 min: Gary Neville has named Willian as man of the match on Sky. The Brazilian has just been substituted for Zouma but is a deserving recipient of Neville’s praise. Leicester’s chief job now, meanwhile, is to preserve their energy for Saturday and avoid any more injuries. Though if you’re going to be tired and broken for any game, at home to Newcastle is the one to choose.
84 min: “Boring, boring Chelsea!” crow the Chelsea fans, who’ll enjoy their train journey home tonight. Let’s hope their fellow passenger do too, eh?
Leicester 1-3 Chelsea (Ramires 83)
Works every time! Seconds after that considered comment on the 81st minute, Chelsea score another goal in emphatic style! Fabregas claimed another assist, pulling the ball back from the byline to the edge of the area, where Ramires arrives at speed and tonks an unstoppable shot into the top corner!
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81 min: Leicester have nine-plus minutes to muster a fightback, and no substitutions left to help them. Chelsea, meanwhile, are showing their intentions by ordering Zouma to warm up: you didn’t think MOurinho was going to tell his team to go for another goal, did you? “I’m not sure you’re giving John Carver enough credit,” tut-tuts Matt Dony in reference to the comment on 68 minutes. “Just maybe, each comedy non-performance/collapse is tailored meticulously to the opposition. He’s watching Leicester now, making notes on new, creative ways Newcastle can bottle it. Expect to see Cambiasso given a lot of time on the ball...”
GOAL! Leicester 1-2 Chelsea (Terry 79)
Cahill met a corner with an excellent backward header. Schmeichel made a fine one-handed save low to his left but Terry reacted fastest to the rebound and stabbed it into the net from close range. Bambi is bleeding and Chelsea are marching towards the title thanks to a commendable and very necessary second-half turnaround.
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76 min: Good move by Pearson: he’s taking off Vardy, who has worked with typical dynamism and effectiveness tonight. On comes Mahrez, who can be a bit of a magician when he gets in the groove. Worth watching ...
74 min: Pressure from Chelsea. Cool heads needed in the Leicester box as opponents flit around it with menace. Enter Cambiasso. Exit danger. Swoon!
72 min: Doh! Leicester mustered their best move of the second half, with Albrighton, Cambiasso and Konchesky exchanging snappy passes. But after all that, Konchesky then went and spoiled everything by mis-hitting his cross from an inviting position.
70 min: Willian shows tremendous speed to lead a counterattack. He then sends the ball wide to Hazard, who tries to pick out Drogba at the back post but a defender, who must remain nameless because I didn’t spot who it was, intervened and stuck the ball out for a corner.
68 min: The camera picks out John Carver in the crowd. Presumably he’s checking out Leicester because his Newcastle shower are playing them at the weekend. Nice to see him keeping up appearances.
67 min: Commendable vigilance from Wasilewski, who nipped in to take the ball away from Hazard as the Belgian trickster sought a a shooting opportunity.
66 min: James reminds Chelsea that Leicester can attack too, as he fires off a shot from 25 yards. It takes a deflection and goes behind for a corner. Albrighton wastes it.
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64 min: The Chelsea threat re-emerges. Hazard knocks the ball back to Azplicueta, who feed Wiilian. The Brazilian sends a reasonable effort over the bar from 20 yards.
61 min: It’s an impressive response from Leicester. They looked in danger of being blown away in the first 10 minutes of this period but they’ve steadied themselves again and Chelsea are finding it hard to find a way through them. And. erm, just as I write that Fabregas springs Drogba with a cute ball behind Morgan to Drgoba, The Ivorian storms into the box and lets fly with a low shot from the right ... just wide!
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58 min: Referee Mark Clattenburg pauses play so he can rebuke Terry and Cambiasso. I don’t know what the thinks they did but his finger-wagging suggests he doesn’t want them to do it again. Any suggestions as to what Terry and Cambiasso might have been up to?
55 min: Leicester have stemmed the flow in the last few minutes by piecing a few passes together in Chelsea territory. Nothing to alarm the visitors just yet, but a positive development for the hosts, who don’t want to simply cling on for a point for the rest of the evening.
53 min: Leicester were a class above Chelsea in terms of sharpness in the first half but now they’re a day late and a dollar short in everything. Drinkwater has just clumped into Willian as he tried to dispossess him, giving Chelsea a freekick in a dangerous position. Leicester then clear it, but Chelsea will be back again soon, you can be sure of that.
51 min: Chelsea are a team transformed. Willian scorches down the right and serves up a beautiful cross. Fabregas arrives at the back post and could turn it into the net ... but just fails to get a proper touch on it, and Leicester at let off.
49 min: Chelsea suddenly have their mojo back. They’ve just produced a wonderful move that revived memories of the sort of stuff they were playing in the first couple of months of the season. Hazard and Fabregas covered it with velvet touches before the Spaniard pulled the ball back from the byline for Drogba, who suddenly relapsed into his first-half form and skied the ball from the edge of the area. Lucky Leicester.
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GOAL! Leicester 1-1 Chelsea (Drogba 48)
And that is better! Ivanovic did superbly to break down the right and into the box before cutting the ball back for Drogba, who erased all his poor work in the first half by sweeping the ball into the net from eight yards! Is that beating of Bambi is beginning?
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47 min: Well Chelsea began as if they had renewed purpose but after a bit of energetic probing, they ran out of ideas and Leicester got the ball back. Must. Do. Better.
46 min: The teams trot back out and we will soon find out whether Mourinho has had a philosophy transplant and actually ordered his team to attack with gusto ...
Half-time: Leicester 1-0 Chelsea
How will Chelsea respond to that ending to the first half? They’ve been sluggish and blunt for most of the evening and were punished by Albrighton’s goal, which rewarded Leicester’s more enterprising attitude. Chelsea have offered little going forward - Drogba has been sad to watch - and they’re going to have to do something about that if they’re to get back into this game. This is not a title run-in for Mourinho’s men, so much as a stagger.
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GOAL! Leicester 1-0 Chelsea (Albrighton 45+3)
Leicester’s renaissance continues! They broke down the left through James, who flipped a nice pass behind the Chelsea rearguard for Vardy to chase. The tireless forward retrieves it and send a low cross into the area, whereupon Azpilicueta slips! The ball runs to Albrighton, who drives a low shot into the net from 10 yards to trigger mass ecstasy in the King Power Stadium!
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45 min: Hazard beats one opponent and then tries to jink his way past Cambiasso, who wins the ball but then treads on the Belgian’s foot. Hazard is down and seemingly in pain. While he receives treatment, Pearson and Mourinho exchange views on the halfway line: Mourinho appears tamer than usual, perhaps afraid he might be on the receiving end of Pearson’s wrath .. or whatever it was that James McArthur was on the receiving end a while ago.
44 min: Excellent work by Drinkwater, who forces Willian back from the edge of the Leicester box to near the halfway line. They’re defending tigerishly, the foxes, and Chelsea aren’t sly enough to pick a way through them.
41 min: A Chelsea attack founders on Drogba again and suddenly Leicester tear forward ... and cause almighty panic in Chelsea’s box! Fist Vardy got his foot to a cross at the back post and hooks his shot towards goal. It almost catches out Cech but comes back off a combination of the keeper’s hand and perhaps also the butt of the post. There follows a kinghell goalmouth scramble before Chelsea eventually find safety.
39 min: Hot dang! Now Ulloa is down injured, clutching his ankle in pain. Leicester aren’t going to lose a third player before the break, are they? Not yet: Ulloa gets up to try to solider on. He’s going to try to run it off. I tried to do that with a hangover once, with messy consequences ...
37 min: Drinkwater cops a sight of goal and decides to have a bang: from 30 yards his shot whistles over the bar.
35 min: A wild late tackle by Konchesky on Ramires could be punished with a red - but the referee decides not to be so severe and shows only a yellow. Fabregas steps up to take the freekick wide on the right. And he sends it straight into Schmeichel’s arms.
33 min: Chelsea raise their game above the mundane long enough to work Hazard into a promising crossing position. It’s cleared for a corner. They take it quickly and Hazard again poses a problem, cutting into the box and pinging a ball into the danger zone. Leicester scramble it clear.
31 min: Leicester launch a swift counter-attack. Albrighton, who has been impressive so far as a right wingback, charges down the right and ... balloons his cross into the nearby Leicester Tigers’ rugby stadium.
All hail Sam O'Leary!
He has correctly identified the third most fouled player in the PRemier League this season. Prepare to be underwhelmed - it’s ... Rémy Cabella (followed by Stépahne Sessegnon)!
28 min: A revival from Leicester after their little lull. Albrighton curls in a splendid cross but Terry defends it equally superbly, hooking the ball away at the near post as Ulloa prepared to pounce. “I’m sure the third most fouled player this season has been Joey Barton,” booms Colin Greener completely incorrectly. But his logic is worth considering, at least: “I’m a QPR fan and he does seem to get a lot of fouls. I think the opposition players do it as they know it’ll raise an easy cheer, and Barton likes to think he’s Beckham and takes all our setpieces.”
25 min: Leicester’s initial vim has waned a little and Chelsea are starting to take more control. Those injuries have probably contributed to the turnaround. “I’m sure the leadership and experience Drogba has brought to the dressing room has been invaluable, and is almost certainly the main reason Mourinho re-signed him,” reckons Matt Loten. “However, it’s quite sad to see one of the Premier League’s finest ever strikers lumbering around the pitch, struggling to keep his feet straight and the ball under control, and hopelessly chasing long balls in behind. Still, the lad would certainly make my team of the last decade, and I suppose we should all just be glad of the opportunity to see him on the pitch for a last few times.” Well said, Matt. You could say the same thing for Steven Gerrard. And maybe even Rickie Lambert, though it’s hard to know whether he has really declined or has just been forgotten about by Brendan Rodgers.
23 min: More rotten luck for Leicester: they’re losing another player to injury: Huth appears to have pulled something and limps off to be replaced by De Laet, who is a right-back by trade but will slot into the right-hand side of Leicester’s three-man central defence here.
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21 min: Leicester float a corner towards Morgan on the far post. The defender rises to meet it but can’t get a firm connection and the ball bounces wide. meanwhile, to all of you claiming Alexi Sanchez has been the third most fouled player this season, stop it: you’re wrong! Why can’t you be more like Austin Baird, who has at least suggested Steven Naismith, who has been the fifth most fouled.
19 min: Blues for Leicester as King breaks down with an injury of some sort: he has to be replaced by James.
17 min: Hazard does a Cambiasso, circumventing the opposing defence with a sumptuous pass from deep. Fabregas gets on the end of it and plays the ball back across the face of goal - but no one is there to turn it into the net. Where was Drogba?
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15 min: Drogba is not giving Chelsea much of a platform up front at the moment. He’s like a wily politician insofar as nothing is sticking to him. Worse, when Wilian raided down the left and crossed an inviting paass to him just now, Drogba completely mis-hit his shot, shanking a weak effort embarrassingly wide from the edge of the area.
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14 min: Terry goes forward to contribute to a Chelsea attack ... too far forward, in fact, as he strayed offside to allow Leicester to clear the danger. “Is the third most fouled player Coutinho?” pleads Sean Boiling. “My reasoning is that it must be someone who plays a lot of games and is tricky with the ball at their feet.” Nah.
12 min: Wonderful pass by Cambiasso! before anyone else had spotted the opportunity he switched play with a perfectly weighted ball from deep over the Chelsea defence. All Ulloa had to do was take it down and he would have had a free shot at goal from 16 yards ... but his touch betrayed him and the ball bounced off his foot and away from him!
10 min: Another positive bit of pressure from Leicester but Vardy’s hopeful shot on the turn from 25 yards never looked like bothering Cech.
8 min: Azpilicueta makes a rare dash forward to join in Chelsea’s first sustained attack. He collects a pass off Fabregas and scurries into the box before unleashing a shot that is well blocked by Wasilewski.
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6 min: Leicester are giving as good as they’re getting at the moment in a pleasingly high-paced affair. No clear openings for either side yet but Leicester have stuck in a couple of testing crosses in the last minute or so. “Is the third most fouled player in the Premier League this season David Silva?” wonders Brian Rusell. “If not him, then possibly Lee Cattermole? Not because he’s a good player but because he’s so annoying you’d want to kick him every chance you get.” It’s solid reasoning, Brian, but no, Silva isn’t even in the top five.
4 min: Unless my TV picture has gone fuzzy of its own accord, rain has begun sheeting down in Leicester, giving the pitch real zip and potentially adding an entertaining new factor to proceedings.
2 min: Leicester release Vardy for the first time, playing a lovely through-ball for him to chase. But Ivanovic - Chelsea’s second best player this season after Hazard - hares back to snuff out the danger impeccably.
1 min: Game on! Leicester kick off and immediately bang the ball forward, but Cahill cuts it out and within 16 seconds, the ball is down the other end in Schmeichel’s hands. End-to-end stuff already, then!
Here they come, here they come, here they come! The teams stride out on to the pitch to a mighty clatter from a full King Power Stadium. Leicester are wearing Chelsea blue, while Chelsea are trying to dazzle the opposition with their bright yellow gear.
Regard the quiz: No, Gregory Walls, the answer is not Burnley’s Ashley Barnes (though you are right about him being the most prolific fouler this season).
Prediction:
At the risk of being seen as the sort of swine who would club Bambi, I foresee a very unromantic Chelsea win. Leicester’s adventure and dynamism have been refreshing in recent weeks but their defence has remained dodgy and I fancy Chelsea will outscore them handily.
Nigel Pearson has spoken, mainly to rubbish those pre-match suggestions that he was considering deploying a weakened side in order to preserve his big guns for the four remaining matches after tonight: “We’re not in a position where we can prioritise games,” says Pearson.
Quiz
According to this simply magnificent article, Eden Hazard is not the most fouled player in the Premier League in terms of minutes-per-kick. He’s only the second most fouled, after Southampton’s Sadio Mané. I’ll give a generous round of applause to whoever can guess the third most frequently fouled player this season. Go on, who do you think it is? Please show your working with the answer.
Two striking things about Chelsea’s line-up, including that they actually have a striking thing tonight: unlike against Arsenal on Sunday, Jose Mourinho has elected to field a specialist centre-forward, with Didier Drogba getting what could be one of his last ever run-outs. The other notable selection is the inclusion of Petr Cech in goal ahead of Thibaut Courtois, perhaps just to show off Chelsea’s huge strength in depth in that department. The former Chelsea keeper Mark Schwarzer is on the bench for Leicester tonight. but if we’re going to start talking about about great players who have turned out for both these clubs, then the conversation begins and ends with Frank Sinclair. There’d be no danger of a 0-0 if everyone’s favourite own goal machine were here tonight ...
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Teams:
Leicester: Schmeichel; Wasilewski, Huth, Morgan, Konchesky; Albrighton, King, Cambiasso, Drinkwater, Vardy; Ulloa
Subs: De Laet, Hammond, James, Mahrez, Schwarzer, Wood, Kramaric
Chelsea: Cech; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta, Ramires; Matic; Hazard, Fabregas, Wilian; Drogba
Subs: Luis, Zouma, Oscar, Mikel, Courtois, Cuadrado, Ake
Ref: M Clattenberg
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Preamble:
Hello and welcome to a match that could not be more important if it sat swigging Cristal champagne in a cordoned off part of a fancy nightspot. Leicester need points to strengthen their chances of staying among the elite, while Chelsea are chasing the victory that would enable them to get their mitts on the Premier League title this weekend. There will be no quarter asked nor given, just two halves of full-on footballing fun. That’s a cotton-clad guarantee, right there.
One of the things that makes this clash so intriguing is that Leicester go into it in great form. They’ve turned around their results at just the right time of the season and are now on course to win five league matches in a row for the first time since 1963/64, which was a king of footballing Ice Age (for more on that, have a gander at this lovely article by Rob Bagchi). And Nigel Pearson’s men have done with giddy abandon, proving that old age about teams being made in the image of their maker. Or maybe not. Anyway, the point is heir derring-do has been wonderful to watch in recent weeks: will they continue it tonight? If they do, will that make them fools to be picked of by Jose Mourinho’s arch-pragmatists? Or will their bold spirit be rewarded with an invigorating win? I don’t why I’m asking you lot because none of you know, unless there are soothsayers amongst ye, in which case please get in touch and confirm it’s not going to be 0-0.
