So that’s your lot. Paul Doyle was our man at the King Power, and his verdict has landed. You can enjoy that by following the information superhighway hotlink below. Thanks for reading this MBM!
A slightly frustrated Brendan Rodgers adds: “We should win the game. We’ve conceded two disappointing goals. I thought the players overall showed a really good mentality and created enough clear-cut chances to win the game. But we’re a little frustrated that we couldn’t win it. I thought Chelsea started better but we worked our way into the game. The mentality to come back and get in front was very good. It was important that we didn’t lose today, to keep the advantage over Chelsea is important. But it’s still all to play for. We’ll see where we’re at with ten teams to go. For us to be in this position, the players have been fantastic but we have to stay focused.”
A reasonably content Frank Lampard speaks. “I thought it was a pretty even game. We were the better team in the first half. In the second half we weren’t so fluid and they had some clear chances. We have worked in training to get more goals from set pieces, so to get two was pleasing. I thought Willy Caballero’s performance was good. We were underdogs for top four at the start of the season. We’ve got a well-fought draw at Leicester and we move on.”
The essence of a chat with Antonio Rudiger, who has deservedly won the man-of-the-match award for his two-goal antics. He’s happy, as you can imagine, and he’s having no truck with that late penalty shout. “The ball touched my hand, but it was not my intention to touch it.”
On the other hand, Chelsea may be happy enough with a point at the home of a very fine team. Leicester are now on 49 points, two shy of Manchester City in second and eight clear of Chelsea, who are fourth with 41. Still, the draw means the chasing pack can close the gap: Manchester United and Wolverhampton Wanderers, currently on 34 points, can get to within four of Chelsea if they win tonight’s showdown at Old Trafford. Tottenham can do likewise if they take down the champions tomorrow afternoon. Fascinating, right?
FULL TIME: Leicester City 2-2 Chelsea
Great second-half entertainment and a fair result. A result that’s better for Leicester, comfortable in third, than Chelsea, looking over their shoulder in fourth.
90 min +5: Barnes skedaddles down the left and cuts inside. He crosses in the hope of finding Maddison in the middle. The ball pings off Rudiger’s hand. Leicester want a penalty. Rudiger’s hand was behind his back, and there was a little movement, but not enough to interest the referee or your pal and mine, Mr VAR.
90 min +3: Evans picks up a yellow for a garden-variety clatter.
90 min +2: A break in play as Evans goes down with cramp. He’s put in quite a shift, to be fair.
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90 min +1: Iheanacho nearly finds Perez down the right, but the pass doesn’t stick. Had it done so, Chelsea were in a bit of trouble at the back.
90 min: There will be five minutes of added time. More than enough for somebody to find a goal that could shape the rest of their season.
89 min: Barnes nearly breaks clear down the left but is forced to turn tail. The tension is palpable as both teams probe for a winner.
87 min: A Kante dribble down the right earns Chelsea a corner. Rudiger rises in the hope of completing what would be a fairly unexpected hat-trick, to say the least. But he can’t get a third header away.
86 min: Hudson-Odoi is good to continue. If the glance he’s just shot Chilwell is anything to go by, he’s not convinced by the accidental nature of the challenge.
85 min: Hudson-Odoi has taken a whack upside the head, in an accidental collision with Chilwell. He looks to be in some pain, repeatedly whacking the turf with his palm. On comes the physio.
84 min: The slew of changes has disrupted the flow of this otherwise fine second half. There’s not a lot going on right now.
83 min: Chelsea make their final change, throwing on Barkley in place of Abraham.
81 min: That’s Vardy’s last contribution. He makes way for Iheanacho, while Tielemans is replaced by Praet.
80 min: ... and Leicester should have scored it. Vardy is sent scampering down the right. Chelsea are super-light at the back. Vardy rolls the ball across to Barnes, who simply has to score, but flicks his shot inches wide of the bottom left. Caballero was out of the picture.
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79 min: Abraham looks to bustle down the middle and into the box, but the door slams shut just in time. There’s another goal in this game.
77 min: Maddison’s free kick pings off the wall. Corner on the right. Maddison takes that too ... and he should have an assist to his name, Evans unmarked in the centre, eight yards out. He slaps his header wide right. What a miss! In the dugout, Brendan Rodgers is a study in disbelief.
76 min: Perez sashays in from the right and is clipped from behind by Kovacic, cynically taking one for the team. Yellow. Perez was either preparing to shoot, or feed Vardy just inside the box. Instead this is a free kick just to the right of the D. Maddison fancies this.
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74 min: Frank Lampard was preparing a double change before the equaliser, and doesn’t let events dictate. Pedro and Jorginho are replaced by Willian and Kovacic.
73 min: A free kick for Leicester out on the right. Maddison hoicks it into the mixer. Rudiger wins another header, this time clearing back upfield. The big German is having some game.
GOAL! Leicester City 2-2 Chelsea (Rudiger 71)
Pereira clips Mount out on the Chelsea left. A free kick and a change for Chelsea to hit back. And how they hit back! Mount takes the free kick himself floating it towards Rudiger at the far post, ten yards out. Rudiger rises majestically and plants a header across Schmeichel and into the top left! What a header that is. Regroup 101.
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69 min: Tielemans pearls a low diagonal shot towards the bottom left. Caballero does very well to get down and parry. The visitors need to regroup quickly.
68 min: Chelsea are chasing shadows at the moment.
66 min: That was a real rush of blood by Caballero, who went scampering along the byline after a ball he was never likely to reach. Leicester have responded fantastically to going behind so early in the second half. If they can hold onto this, a Champions League spot is surely theirs.
GOAL! Leicester City 2-1 Chelsea (Chilwell 64)
A penny for Kepa’s thoughts. Chilwell and Barnes combine crisply down the left. Chilwell overhits his cross. Cabellero races off after it, but can’t get there ahead of Pereira, who cuts back for Tielemans. The ball’s played back across to the left, where Chilwell is free to blast into the top left. Cabellero couldn’t get back in time. Oh Willy.
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62 min: Mount takes the free kick ... and it’s hopeless. A curler towards the far post sails harmlessly high into the stand behind. Maybe the wind caught it, let’s give the young man the benefit.
61 min: James dribbles his way down the inside-right channel and is cynically tripped from behind by Maddison. It’s a clear free kick and a yellow card.
60 min: After the excitement of the goals, we’re back into Fascinating Mode. Bah. All a little scrappy as the teams battle in the middle of the park.
58 min: Now Kante goes lunging in on Chilwell. Just a free kick, though you’ve seen yellow cards flashed for such late extended-leg shenanigans.
56 min: Leicester have the momentum now. Pereira floats a ball in from the right. Vardy is sniffing at the far post, but the ball hangs in the wind and it’s easy meat for Caballero. Then in the midfield, Jorginho hangs out a leg to stop Maddison, and that’s the first booking of the match.
GOAL! Leicester City 1-1 Chelsea (Barnes 54)
Oh, they up their game! Tielemans drifts down the inside-left and slips Barnes clear on the wing. Barnes cuts inside and shoots. The ball clips off Christensen and loops across a wrong-footed Caballero and into the top right. A fortunate deflection but a fine move.
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53 min: Maddison’s corner fails to beat the man on the near post. Mount clears. The King Power is pretty quiet at the minute, the Chelsea fans taking the opportunity to make themselves heard. The home heroes need to up their game.
52 min: A high ball down the Leicester right. Perez brings it to earth gracefully, then wins a corner. Maddison to take.
50 min: Schmeichel has started this half in a very uncertain fashion. Having dithered over the goal, he now fluffs a kick upfield, gifting the ball to Jorginho. A better pass from the Chelsea midfielder would have put Leicester in all sorts of trouble, but his attempt to release Abraham down the inside right is a clunker, and Schmeichel is off the hook.
49 min: Leicester try again. A free kick in a central position, 30 yards from goal. Maddison can’t get round the wall. But this is a decent response from Leicester, after falling behind so soon after the restart.
48 min: Leicester nearly strike back immediately, Barnes skittering down the left, reaching the byline, and nearly finding Vardy in the six-yard box. Caballero does brilliantly to kick clear.
GOAL! Leicester City 0-1 Chelsea (Rudiger 47)
Mount sends a curler towards the far post. Schmeichel thinks about coming, but stops. Rudiger rises and heads past the stranded keeper. Simple as that!
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Chelsea get the second half underway. They’re immediately on the front foot, Azpilicueta crossing from the left, Choudhury forced to hack out for a corner. From which ...
Half-time entertainment.
HALF TIME: Leicester City 0-0 Chelsea
Mount slips a pass to Hudson-Odoi, down the inside-right channel. Hudson-Odoi loops a dismal effort high and wide. Leicester go up the other end and win a corner, from which Choudhury heads harmlessly wide right from six yards. The entire half in microcosm, right there. Like I say, it’s not been awful, but, y’know. “Is it time to haul out the commentator’s special, an ‘intriguing tactical battle?’” Adam Kline-Schoder speaks for me.
45 min: Vardy bustles his way down the right, but is stopped on the edge of the box by Christensen. Barnes has a look down the other flank, but hoicks his cross - or was it a shot? - high over the bar.
43 min: Chelsea are knocking at the door. James flicks another dangerous ball in from the right. Evans half-clears. Kante has a bash. Evans, a one-man wall, stops that one too. The Leicester defender has been sensational today.
41 min: Mount nicks the ball off Chilwell and feeds Hudson-Odoi down the right. Hudson-Odoi returns the ball to Mount on the penalty spot. Mount can’t get a shot away. He should leave the ball for Kante, steaming in behind, but shifts to the left and has another go. His eventual effort is blocked.
40 min: The resulting corner is a non-event.
39 min: James drops a shoulder to make a yard down the right. He curls a low ball across the face of goal. Evans slices over with Pedro and Abraham in close attendance. James is such a fine prospect as an attacking right-back. Alexander-Arnoldesque.
37 min: From the corner, Chiwell blazes over. This game hasn’t quite got going. It’s not been bad, as such, but y’know. The try-hards would file it under ‘fascinating’.
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36 min: Barnes has another dig from distance. It’s blocked. Chelsea go up the other end, Abraham nearly beating Soyuncu to a bouncing ball. Not quite. The defender clears, accidentally kicking Abraham on the back. No foul. Leicester go back up the field and win a corner.
34 min: Maddison looks for an avenue straight down the middle, but can’t bust between Christensen and Rudiger. The ball dribbles through to Caballero.
33 min: Tielemans rolls a pass down the left for Chilwell, who pulls back towards Barnes. He leans back and hoicks miles over the bar. That was a very decent opportunity.
32 min: Pedro crosses from the right. The ball clips Choudhury and forces Schmeichel to tip over his crossbar. The resulting corner comes to nothing.
30 min: Evans slides recklessly into a head-on challenge with Pedro. Off the ground for a split second, he does well to pull back at the very last, studs down, and it’s just a foul, no need for any more punishment. Mount batters the resulting free kick in the wall.
28 min: Perez dinks a crisp pass down the right to release Tielemans. He’s got men in the middle, but can’t find any of them, falling over as he attempts to cross, Rudiger clearing with ease.
27 min: Leicester have finally arrived. They’ve enjoyed 70% possession in the last five minutes, a big shift in momentum. So, er, having said that, Pedro comes skedaddling in from the right and nearly tees up Mount on the penalty spot. Leicester close ranks and clear, just in time.
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25 min: Maddison takes this one, and it’s a lovely set piece, an outswinger towards the far post. It’s asking to be tapped in, but Evans can’t get there. From the resulting goal kick, Chelsea concede possession immediately, allowing Vardy his first sight on goal. He blams his shot straight at Caballero, who parries well.
24 min: Chilwell curls it in, but it’s a hopeless delivery and easily headed clear by Abraham. But they’ll get another chance, Pedro clattering into Perez out on the other wing.
23 min: Leicester finally show in attack, Barnes skating down the left and teeing up Tielemans on the edge of the box. Tielemans’ shot is blocked. But Leicester come back again, Barnes purchasing a cheap free kick off a clumsy James. A free kick out on the left and a chance to cause Chelsea some bother at last.
21 min: VAR says NAH. The crowd entertain themselves by singing the chorus of popular English folk standard Fuck VAR. Altogether now ... a-one, two, three ...
20 min: Pedro slips a pass down the inside left to release Abraham, who should shoot as he enters the box but opts to check inside. He falls to the ground, with Soyuncu standing to his right. He wants a penalty, but there’s surely no contact there. Nevertheless, they’re going to check this with the popular VAR system.
18 min: Leicester breathe again ... again. This time James romps down the right and fizzes a fine ball across the face of goal. Abraham stretches but can’t quite get his toe on the ball. Any contact, and that would have been the opening goal. Chelsea are playing very well.
17 min: Chelsea open up Leicester down the left with a rat-a-tat passing sequence. The ball’s pulled back by Azpilicueta towards Abraham, who can’t sort his feet out. Leicester breathe again.
15 min: Leicester still can’t get anything going. They press Chelsea’s back line, in the hope of forcing a mistake, but Jorginho simply spins away from Maddison and Choudhury, a cute pirouette that leaves both Leicester players spinning like teenagers on Special Brew.
13 min: Chelsea have enjoyed 60 percent of the possession so far. Leicester are struggling to get into this match. The visitors are looking much more dangerous.
11 min: Hudson-Odoi glides in from the right, drawing four players then clipping the ball towards Mount on the penalty spot. Mount leans back and hooks over. A dreadful miss, but he’d have been flagged offside anyway. That was a glorious run by Hudson-Odoi, though, a real old-school Maradonaesque dribble.
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10 min: A brief pause in play after Rudiger and Vardy accidentally clash heads. A splash of water, a dab with a sponge, and both look fine to continue.
9 min: The first corner is headed behind by Evans. The second is worked back down the left for Pedro, who swings one in deep. There’s nobody there to attack the ball, and Schmeichel calmly ushers it out for a goal kick.
8 min: Now Choudhury comes in from behind, on Hudson-Odoi. It’s a blatant foul and a free kick, 35 yards out in a central position. The set piece is worked right to James, who whips in low. With the six-yard box crowded, Evans does well to stick out a leg to divert the ball out for a corner.
7 min: Tielemans stands on Jorginho’s heel, and is fairly fortunate not to go in the book. A beneficiary of the Too Early rule, one presumes.
5 min: Space for Azpilicueta out on the left. He rolls an inviting ball across the front of the box for Hudson-Odoi ... who takes a wild fresh-air swipe with his left peg. A shame, because that was a fine chance at the end of a nice move started by Hudson-Odoi himself.
4 min: All a bit scrappy during the opening exchanges. On the touchline, Rodgers ostentatiously scribbles on a bit of paper. It’s windy, so let’s hope he keeps a tight hold of it.
2 min: James and Christensen nearly confuse each other, standing too close together when exchanging passes. For a nanosecond, it looks as though Vardy may nip in and take advantage, but the Chelsea defenders get their act together quickly and clear.
And we’re off! Leicester get the ball rolling. Their manager is facing Chelsea for the 14th time today, and he’s still looking for his first victory against his old employers.
Here come the teams! Leicester are in their first-choice blue, so Chelsea wear their third-choice black with orange trim. We’ll be off in a minute or two!
Here’s Brenny! “Ndidi has felt a pain in his knee. We had him in to play, but it’s become very sore so we’ve had a look at it. We’ll just leave it, we don’t want to cause any long-term damage. He’s got a period of time off after this game. It’s unfortunate, but it’s an excellent opportunity for Hamza to come in and show his qualities.”
So has Frank Lampard done the right thing by dropping the increasingly uncertain Kepa? The keeper’s save percentage this season is a Mignoletesque 55.56%, by some distance the worst in the Premier League. The next name on the list is Jordan Pickford, England’s number one, ladies and gentlemen, who has done his fair share of clowning around recently but has still managed to stop 63.92% of the shots sent his way. So the answer would surely have to be yes. Of course Willy Caballero could let one dribble through his legs today, in which case Lampard’s post-match press conference will be reasonably entertaining, but you can only go on the numbers we have right now.
Chelsea boss Frank Lampard talks. “Leicester are a very good team. They’re above us, so it’s a tight game, a bit of a match-up. They do a lot of good things and we try to do the same, so we need to be really competitive today. Goalkeeper is a decision you don’t take lightly, you have to look at what it means. I trust in Willy, he’s a great professional. I trust in them both, but this is a decision I’ve made for today.”
Some updated Leicester team news. Wilfred Ndidi has failed a fitness test on his knee, so is replaced in the starting XI by Hamza Choudhury as a precaution. Demarai Gray fills Choudhury’s place on the bench.
Just the one change to the Leicester CIty team beaten by Aston Villa in the League Cup midweek. Jamie Vardy is back, replacing Kelechi Iheanacho up front.
Chelsea by contrast make six changes to the XI named for the FA Cup tie at Hull last weekend. Marcos Alonso, Kurt Zouma, Fikayo Tomori, Ross Barkley, Mateo Kovacic and Michy Batshuayi make way for Reece James, Antonio Rudiger, Andreas Christensen, N’Golo Kante, Jorginho and Tammy Abraham. Incidentally, Frank Lampard has clearly lost patience with the increasingly hapless Kepa, who doesn’t regain his place having been benched for the cup.
The teams
Leicester City: Schmeichel, Ricardo Pereira, Evans, Soyuncu, Chilwell, Ndidi Choudhury, Perez, Maddison, Tielemans, Barnes, Vardy.
Subs: Justin, Choudhury Gray, Albrighton, Ward, Iheanacho, Praet, Fuchs.
Chelsea: Caballero, James, Christensen, Rudiger, Azpilicueta, Kante, Jorginho, Mount, Hudson-Odoi, Abraham, Pedro.
Subs: Arrizabalaga, Alonso, Barkley, Willian, Kovacic, Batshuayi, Tomori.
Referee: Lee Mason (Lancashire).
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Preamble
Matches between Leicester and Chelsea have, in the past, done for some big names. Jose Mourinho, for example, who started yammering on about betrayal after his Chelsea side meekly handed their title to the Foxes in December 2015, earning himself the sack, quick-smart. Then there was Danny Baker, who responded to referee Mike Reed’s award of a penalty for Chelsea after a non-existent Leicester challenge in a 1997 FA Cup tie by lambasting the hapless official on Radio Five Live with trademark eloquence:
Football has a maggot at its golden core, and that maggot is referees … we’ve been at that game for two hours and the referee was bad all the way through it … what is the point of people running themselves to a standstill, what is the point supporters investing time money and emotion, what is the point in anyone investing millions in football when the whole thing rests on some erstwhile van driver from Folkestone who’s probably had a row with his wife? If this was a boxing match and the referee turned round and gave the fight to the bloke who was knocked out on the floor we would say you can’t do that … most of them need a good slap round the face … hacks should doorstep this man like he’s a member of Oasis … that worm should be on the phone now, Radio Five should be knocking down that ref’s dressing room and [asking] do you know on behalf of all referees how bad you are?
Marvellous. Of course, Baker was turfed out his ear a few days later by some craven BBC suit or other, but that’s middle management for you.
Will this latest meeting of Talent and Clowns Pensioners and Foxes result in a similarly memorable brouhaha? We’ll soon find out, as third take on fourth. It’s on!
Kick off: 12.30pm GMT.
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