Jonathan Wilson on Everton ...
Here’s the match report
Paul Doyle was at the King Power.
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Gylfi Sigurdsson speaks, and is honest about what went wrong for Everton. He doesn’t choose to dispute the winner because VAR:
It was very disappointing. The shape we set up with suited us well. We felt were solid and it was devastating to lose it at the end. We have come away with as many points as last week. The performance was better than last week. We have to stick together and stay positive. We have a few games coming up to put things right.
Jamie Vardy and Kelechi Iheancho have been talking to Sky.
JV: We have had decisions go against with VAR and this one went for it.
KI: I have been waiting for the opportunity and I knew it would come. It’s about making sure I was working to this standard. It was fantastic for the whole team. You need to be strong mentally. It’s not easy not playing. Jamie is a top lad and a top striker and I am learning from him.
JV: Kel came on and we started creating chances. He deserves it. He’s been absolutely amazing in training.
Leicester are up to second in the league, leaving Pep Guardiola trailing in their dust. Once they levelled, and a little against the run of play, they were by far the likeliest to win it.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liverpool | 14 | 20 | 40 |
| 2 | Leicester | 14 | 24 | 32 |
| 3 | Man City | 14 | 23 | 29 |
| 4 | Chelsea | 14 | 8 | 26 |
| 5 | Tottenham Hotspur | 14 | 3 | 20 |
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Full-time at Old Trafford: Manchester United 2-2 Aston Villa. Jack Grealish’s goal the highlight there, it seems.
Kenwright, one of football’s most expressive men, is doing his best to look impassive as he knows the camera is on him. Marco Silva is already in the tunnel; it has been left to Luis Boa Morte to remonstrate with the referee.
Full-time: Leicester 2-1 Everton
Oh Marco, oh no. Oh no, oh no, oh no. And footage of Bill Kenwright shows that the axe must surely be looming. Kelechi Iheanacho was superb off the bench. He cannot have played much better than that. But it’s desolation for Everton.
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90+7 min: Who says that VAR kills passion? The stadium went crazy after that period of pent-up frustration.
Goal! Leicester 2-1 Everton (Iheanacho, 90+4)
Goal? No, VAR. Iheanacho on to a Tielemans pass and scores the winner. The offside flag is up, and then it’s ruled out. Well, for now. The video shows the Nigerian had been played onside.
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90+2 min: Sidibe is up and making the most of his injury; Everton eyeing up the draw.
90+1 min: Leicester push for their winner even though Sidibe is down after a collision with Iheanacho. He is grabbing his knee, and appears to be suggesting he is badly hurt.
90 min: Three minutes added on to the 90.
89 min: Silva looks as nervous as hell. As it stands, he probably does get the Merseyside derby to redeem himself. Though good luck with that.
88 min: Michael Keane has taken a whack, which slows down the action for a few seconds. But the pace picks up once again as Leicester chase the win.
87 min: Everton have not entirely given up on winning this: Richarlison has a shot blocked after briefly finding space. Neither, of course, have Leicester. Ricardo’s shot is bundled behind for a corner that Pickford claims and sets up another attack.
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85 min: Jamie Vardy sees to have taken a bash to his hooter and has to leave the field for a moment. A flashpoint between Soyuncu follows, as the Turk gets bounced into the advertising boards and lets Kean know his disquiet. Kean is not for backing down, either.
83 min: Tielemans shoots this time, but wide. The chances piling up for Leicester just as the problems are for a pensive Marco Silva.
81 min: Leicester sub: On comes Albrighton for Harvey Barnes, who was looking lively right up until the point he was hauled off.
80 min: And Kean almost made an instant impact. Seeing Schmeicherl off his line he attempts a speculative one, and the ball whips just wide of the post. Schmeichel was nowhere near the ball, and was beaten all ends up. Some of the crowd thought that was in.
79 min: Double Everton sub: Iwobi and Calvert-Lewin off, and Moises Kean and Morgan Schneiderlin on. That seems to be full rejig midfield.
78 min: Tielemans almost forced a chance, but his pass inside was a waste as Iheanacho and Vardy were queueing up.
76 min: Everton are looking ragged now when they had previously seemed organised and confident. That lapse for Vardy’s goal showed off their fragility.
74 min: Leicester now forcing big chances. Iheanacho gives them a let-off when he oversteps the ball and then Vardy’s header from Tielemans’ cross has Pickford panicking.
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73 min: Close! Barnes and Vardy combine and then the ball comes inside. Maddison forces a save from Pickford that the goalkeeper cannot have known too much about until the ball was in his grasp.
71 min: Leicester fans now loud and hitting their clackers hard. Everton looking a little downcast, as well they might, but they are at least pushing on for a winner.
70 min: Now, this is a test for Everton, a real test. Vardy appeared like a ghostly apparition, having not been in the contest at all, to score. Brendan Rodgers will take the credit for his change - it was Iheanacho who set up the goal.
By the by, it’s Manchester United 2-2 Aston Villa, with Tyrone Mings getting the equaliser.
Goal! Leicester 1-1 Everton (Vardy, 68)
Oh dear, Everton. Lovely work from Ndidi then to Iheanacho, and then at the back post it’s Vardy who scores from close range.
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66 min: Two-thirds of the game to go and this looks like something of a tactical coup for Marco Silva. Though if it goes wrong from here, that would look like a felling blow.
Latest score: Manchester 2-1 Aston Villa, with Victor Lindelof getting it.
64 min: More Everton attacking. Are Leicester trying to call them on to open up space or are they struggling with an inspired opponent? Kelechi has a shot, but it represents no threat to Pickford.
62 min: Leicester sub: Kelelchi Iheanacho for Ayoze Perez, who has rather disappeared from the contest...meanwhile, Mason Holgate found himself with space to shoot - and possibly a nosebleed - but took too much time and saw his effort blocked. Everton are the better team here and they were nearly ahead when Richarlison pings in a cross that Iwobi cannot get to.
60 min: Ricardo, who has played well for Leicester, robs Richarlison and tries to force a move but again his team run into heavy traffic.
59 min: Everton are doing OK here. Sidibe forces a corner, though wants a handball too...oh, here’s some handbags. Ndidi and Mina clash and the Colombian does a Bob Mortimer “Ooh, Vic, I’ve fallen”. Somehow, Ndidi receives the sterner word from the referee. Game’s gone #566668
57 min: On that VAR decision:
Matt Burtz: “Considering Everton was on the admittedly wrong end of a VAR penalty decision against Brighton, the argument could be made that justice has been done here.” Not sure it works like that.
Asha: “If the ref thinks it was a penalty and VAR thinks it wasn’t a penalty. Then presumably VAR can only decide that it’s an obvious error, no?”
That’s close to my admittedly none-too expert view of this infernal robot war.
56 min: Leicester stroke the ball around, looking for space within that defensive line that Marco Silva has built for today.
54 min: Surging run from Pereira when Everton lose the ball cheaply in midfield. Fine save from Pickford and Sidibe hacks clear. That might calm the adventurous spirit.
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52 min: Everton stepping forward a bit? Looks like they realise they cannot just cling on. Tielemans, though, creates a second of panic when his backpass comes to Pickford, who is forced to slice clear.
50 min: Michael Keane rises highest for the corner but Schmeichel saves with ease before Everton force another. This time, Calvert-Lewin gets up to nod over.
49 min: Leicester look to step matters up, with Maddison out on the left, and Everton break with Iwobi launching a beauty of a pass to Richarlison, who cuts back to Sigurdsson, whose shot is blocked for a corner, which is something of a let-off.
47 min: Some loose play by Soyuncu and Everton almost had a chance to score. Everton are 19th in the league on second-half goals scored while Leicester are second so much can change.
2 - Richarlison has scored in successive Premier League away games for the first time since September 2017 for Watford. Noggin. pic.twitter.com/DWLYuOkjcb
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) December 1, 2019
46 min: Back underway. Richarlison, who limped off the field at the end of the first half, looks to be OK to continue. In fact, he looks positively sprightly. Magic Marco’s magic sponge has done the trick.
Ben Chilwell led a delegation to complain about that Leicester non-penalty at half-time. Was it a clear and obvious error from ref Graham Scott? Didn’t look it. Does the benefit of the doubt go to the ref? Not this time.
And at Old Trafford, it’s still 1-1 between Manchester United and Aston Villa. Villa ‘bossing it’, according to a source close to the game.
Half-time: Leicester 0-1 Everton.
Everton’s best 45 minutes of the season and perhaps Leicester’s worst. And a VAR controversy. Did Chilwell dive or did he take evasive action?
45+2 min: Everton looking to hang on a bit here. Could they keep this up in the second half? They have had a heavy workload. The last moment of the half sees them have to hack a Maddison free-kick clear, stop Vardy getting a shot in and then finally clear a corner.
45+1 min: Only two minutes of time added on - which must have come from that VAR incident. The home fans not happy with that.
45 min: Leicester forced to try and and find holes in that massed Everton defence. Richarlison is the outlet for long balls whenever there is chance to get clear.
Latest score: Manchester United 1-1 Aston Villa (Rashford, 42)
43 min: Home crowd not as boisterous as usual. Remember, this is a team with a faint but not wholly unrealistic chance of challenging for the title. Everton are actually doing Liverpool a favour here.
41 min: Everton sitting back on their lead but also happy to have Leicester where they can see them. Those counters have been the source of a couple of scares.
39 min: A break in play as Ricardo goes down, having clashed heads with Sidibe. In that move just a minute ago, Tom Davies escaped a booking for a desperate pull on a Leicester escapee.
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38 min: Leicester go on the break, with Harvey Barnes involved, as is Maddison until Mina comes across to hack the ball clear. Everton almost paid for leaving themselves open in midfield.
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36 min: On the sidelines, the fourth official is still having to explain what all that VAR fuss was about to Brendan Rodgers.
35 min: A reprieve for Silva and for Holgate whose challenge was rash.
34 min: The *home* fans did not like that decision when they saw that on the video screen.
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Penalty? VAR! No penalty!
Mason Holgate dives in to foul Ben Chilwell after Yerry Mina cleaned out Jamie Vardy. Did Chilwell get touched? That’s the question for VAR. He did seem to accentuate his fall somewhat. The delay takes two minutes...and no penalty.
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30 min: Vardy goes for the truly spectacular as Ben Chilwell loops in a cross but fails to find the target. In fact, his overhead kick ends up somewhere in the Market Harborough area.
Tony Barr on that Jack Grealish goal for Villa at Old Trafford: “It was an absolute worldy. Curled into the right corner from the left edge of the box. Hit the side netting first. Magical.”
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28 min: James Maddison, who has been peripheral, is fouled by Evertonian dog of war....*checks notes*...Gylfi Sigurdsson. Every manjack is at it from Everton. Maddison meanwhile makes a frightful waste of the resultant free-kick.
26 min: Let’s see what Leicester can conjure. They have been a little flat.
24 min: That *was* a moment of high quality. Everton’s attitude has been good and that was excellent attacking play...meanwhile, another penalty shout, and it’s Perez again, clashing with Sidibe. No dice, though. In fact, it was fine covering from the Frenchman.
Goal! Leicester 0-1 Everton (Richarlison, 23)
Great work from Sidibe and a fine header from the Brazilian. Andy Gray would have been proud of that. Marco Silva certainly was.
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22 min: It’s crisp, it’s competitive but it’s not yet high on quality.
21 min: Another Leicester penalty shout but it was Sigurdsson’s chops rather than his hand that touched the ball.
20 min: Penalty shout as Perez turns past Keane and falls to the floor. It would have been harsh, and VAR confirms that.
19 min: Tom Davies booked for a heavy tackle. He got carried away there and the pitch look slippery in the icy conditions.
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17 min: Perez is looking the liveliest and most likely for Leicester. There is a sudden exchange of attacks as Calvert-Lewin chases down a Keane pass then Schmeichel launches the ball long for Vardy to chase. This is a game played at full pelt.
15 min: Brendan Rodgers is making notes and he may be concerned that Everton have stemmed the flow of his team’s attacks while also showing off their own ability to be dangerous.
14 min: Perez, from his right side position of Leicester’s attacking trident, fizzes in a shot across goal and just wide. Leicester beginning to make chances now.
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Update from Old Trafford: Manchester United are losing 1-0 to Aston Villa after Jack Grealish’s 11th minute goal.
12 min: Iwobi makes a strong burst down the flank, then the ball comes out wide to Digne. Everton are pushing on here.
10 min: Snap shot for Perez, after Tielemans and Vardy combine but it us straight at Pickford.
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9 min: Leicester yet to hit their stride; Everton have disrupted their flow.
7 min: It looks like Everton are sitting deep to try and stop Leicester’s speed on the break. Footage of Leighton Baines on the bench and he doesn’t seem exactly rapt at what is happening ahead of him. He’s possibly dreaming of Miles Kane’s new material...Sidibe, meanwhile, carves forward and gets chance to shoot on goal. The shot is over but Schmeichel was giving off distress signals.
5 min: Leicester in Everton territory but that added man does seem to have caused something of a blockade for the likes of Perez and Vardy.
3 min: A half-chance for Everton. Calvert-Lewin gallops down the flank but his cross evades Richarlison, who seemed to lose the flight of the ball.
2 min: The free-kick was a waste, one of those where the angle is too shallow to test an opposing defence. Ben Chilwell is usually far better than that with the dead ball.
1 min: Everton begin with a spell of possession until Perez is brought down for a free-kick.
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And away we go...with Fanfare For The Common Man closing out the pre-match prelims as Everton take the kick-off.
The King Power sounds loud; these are happy days in Leicester, almost as happy as four seasons ago when they were going for the title. Marco Silva looks pensive, morose almost.
Here’s Marco Silva, who is defiant though rather garbled as he tries to explain his plan for the game.
We have had a lot of problems in the last few weeks for our midfielders. Morgan [Schneiderlin] has had a problem this week and we decided to play three at the back. The formation is not the most important thing. What will make the difference in the attitude on the pitch. We have to change our performance from last week. We have to change the feeling we had last week. We have have to be strong, compact and we don’t leave space.
Here’s Brendan Rodgers, the calm, collected elder statesman of the Premier League, a man of perspective and poise. This is the fifth week in a row he has been able to select an unchanged team.
It’s good if you can keep that stability and rhythm the team but we have players waiting in the wings. We are only playing one game a week at the moment. It looks like they are going to play 5-4-1, which has happened a few times here lately. They are usually 4-2-3-1 so it’s a solution we have to find but these players have been brilliant. There’s always a lot of noise around players and teams and managers. We have to be at our best to get a result.
It has to be said that Leicester’s players look chirpier than today’s opponents.
The lads are out on the pitch warming up on a fine, crisp evening at King Power Stadium 🏟
— Leicester City (@LCFC) December 1, 2019
Not long to go until #LeiEve now! ⏳ pic.twitter.com/hggEeTxM8k
📷 | Game ready. 🔜 #LEIEVE pic.twitter.com/lX6hPtthAt
— Everton (@Everton) December 1, 2019
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Tom Davies, the Everton midfielder who looks like a member of Scouse psych legends The Stairs, looks quite relaxed as he speaks to Sky.
It would a great to get a good start. It’s a chance to put things right from last week. They are on good form so we will have to be at out best.
Wolves and Sheffield United also drew 1-1, with Matt Doherty’s second-half goal levelling Lyss Mousset’s early opener. Reports to follow on both those games.
It’s all over between Norwich and Arsenal and it was quite some game.
Here’s what Nick had to say about this match in this week’s Premier League talking points.
Time running out for Silva to recapture early swagger
Everton are not the only club that might feel shamed by the quality of work done by Brendan Rodgers within nine months of his arrival at Leicester, but a comparison with the last time these two sides met at the King Power Stadium highlights their wildly divergent directions of travel. In October 2018, with Marco Silva still getting his feet under the table, Everton produced an exhilarating away performance, winning 2-1 and threatening more. “This is our image,” Silva said afterwards. “It will be so in the future.” Saturday’s rematch would be an apposite occasion for Silva to prove he can keep his promises, given that anything bar a rapid upturn is likely to spell the end. It is difficult to know what to make of Silva as a manager: there was always the sense that his talents were overhyped somewhat after he made an admittedly respectable fist of keeping Hull in the top flight two and a half years ago and he has shown little to suggest any extraordinary talent since then. Time is running out for him to change that opinion.
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A vote of confidence from the goalie is a variation on a theme.
Leicester are unchanged from the team that beat Brighton 2-0 last time out, and why not, considering their rich form. For his final (?) fling of the dice, Marco Silva has made three changes with Michael Keane, Alex Iwobi and Dominic Calvert-Lewin coming in. Morgan Schneiderlin, Theo Walcott and Cenk Tosun are the men to make way, and it looks like Silva has opted for three at the back to try and deal with those Leicester fliers.
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Here are the teams
Leicester: Schmeichel, Chilwell, Ricardo, Soyuncu, Evans, Ndidi, Tielemans, Maddison, Barnes, Perez, Vardy.
Subs: Ward, Justin, Morgan, Albrighton, Iheanacho, Choudhury, Praet.
Everton: Pickford, Digne, Sidibe, Holgate, Keane, Mina, Davies, Sigurdsson, Iwobi, Richarlison, Calvert-Lewin.
Subs: Lossl, Baines, Tosun, Schneiderlin, Bernard, Kean, Gordon.
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Preamble
Farewell, then, Marco Silva? That appears to the scenario that awaits if Brendan Rodgers’ flashing Leicester blades put the Ev to the sword. And Brendan has previous with Everton. Remember that time Thierry Henry squeezed Jamie Carragher’s thigh? That came after King Brenny was dismissed by Liverpool straight after a drab draw at Goodison and the news had reached the Sky studios.
We could be in for three sackings in a weekend after Arsenal binned Unai Emery and Watford axed poor Quique Sánchez Flores after just ten matches back in Herts. Slow on the attack, ponderous in defence, just about the last opposition that Silva would want to come up against is Leicester. Only Liverpool and Manchester City have scored more, and Leicester have won their last five matches. Everton have actually won two of their last five but it is the cumulative failure of Silva, a manager they entered legal dispute with Watford over appointing, that is likely to cost him. They are 17th, and that is not nearly good enough. Silva probably needs to repeat what Manuel Pellegrini did on Saturday, and beat one of the best teams in the league to offset the speculation. Well, until they play Liverpool this week, that is.
Kick-off 4pm UK time.
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