Right, that’s it from me. Stick around on the site for Daniel Taylor and Stuart James’s reports and reaction from the King Power. But, for now, cheerio!
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Well, that was all a bit nervy from Leicester but four more home wins just like that will do them verynicelythankyouverymuch.
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Meanwhille, Rafael Benitez can take a bit of comfort from a half-decent Newcastle performance, though they were horrendously sloppy with the ball at times. They face Sunderland at the weekend.
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Peep! PEEP!! PEEEEEEP!!! All over. Not a vintage Leicester performance by any means but they’ve bagged another valuable three points. The Foxes go FIVE points clear at the top with eight to play.
90+3 min: Vardy goes into the other corner. And he also wins a corner from Colback. That could just about do it.
90+2 min: Mahrez lashes a shot wide from 25 yards.
90+1 min: Ulloa’s turn to hold the ball in the corner. More than a minute has been wasted down there.
90 min: Schlupp holds the ball in the corner quadrant for a few seconds, then wins his team a corner. Leicester have three added minutes to survive.
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89 min: Ranieri wheels his arms around in the technical area and roars at his players and the crowd to rouse themselves for these final few minutes.
88 min: Drinkwater leads a Leicester break and Mahrez sees a shot blocked after Fuch’s deep cross had dropped at his feet.
87 min: A final roll of the dice from Benitez: Shelvey is replaced by Doumbia.
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86 min: It’s one-way traffic at the moment. Newcastle are all over the hosts.
85 min: Newcastle again cut through the Leicester defence. Janmaat pulls back, Mitrovic lays off and De Jong miscues his shot on goal. That has to go down as a chance.
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83 min: That Sissoko effort did flick off Morgan’s elbow but a penalty would’ve been incredibly harsh.
82 min: Townsend does superbly down the right and whips in a terrific cross. It’s nodded away as far as Sissoko who crashes a volley against a defender.
80 min: Fuchs’ long throw causes a few problems for Elliott under pressure from Ulloa, and the keeper is grateful to see the ball plop the right side of the post.
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78 min: Ulloa nods away Shelvey’s free-kick. And just for once a bit of a hush comes over the King Power. There are a few nerves rattling around now.
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77 min: The stats show Newcastle have had two shots on target, Leicester have had one. Simpson clatters into Sissoko to concede a free-kick over on the Newcastle left.
75 min: Albrighton is replaced by Ulloa.
74 min: Kante intercepts his umpteenth pass from a Newcastle player. He’s been brilliant tonight in a not-particularly-brilliant Leicester performance.
72 min: This has become scrappier than Scooby Do’s nephew.
71 min: Benitez makes his second change: Siem de Jong replaces Perez.
70 min: … which comes to nothing. Leicester really haven’t threatened from set pieces today.
69 min: Mahrez finds a bit of space between the lines and feeds Schlupp, who crashes a shot against Janmaat and out for a corner …
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68 min: Janmaat curls a shot from deep straight into Schmeichel’s hands. Mitrovic and Simpson briefly go forehead-to-forehead (as is the style of the time) after coming together aggressively in the six-yard box.
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67 min: “Leicester could be the first title-winning team with a tactical philosophy built entirely around scampering,” ponders Andy Seed.
65 min: Leicester substitution: the goalscorer Okazaki goes off to be replaced by Jeff Schlupp.
63 min: Newcastle get numbers back, though, and the chance slips away.
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62 min: … punched away firmly by Schmeichel and Leicester launch one of those trademark counterattacks.
61 min: Newcastle are pressing forward furiously now. Perez pings a shot into the sidenetting with Colback overlapping in a better position. Still, they have a corner …
58 min: Patient stuff from Newcastle … then suddenly Perez is away. He’s in behind on the left edge of the box but his pass manages to drop between three team-mates. What a chance that was. This is not over by any means.
57 min: £12m man Andros Townsend replaces Vurnon Anita for the visitors.
56 min: Leicester have started this half in a fashion as scrappy as they started the first.
55 min: Mitrovic heads towards goal from the edge of the box but it’s easy for Schmeichel.
53 min: … which is touched to Fuchs, whose shot is blocked at source by a charging defender. Bit of unnecessary complication from the Foxes there.
51 min: Elliott paws away a corner but the job is only half-done once more. Leicester have the Newcastle defence scrambling and eventually Vardy is brought down by Janmaat inside the D. Very dangerous free-kick this …
49 min: Kante pinches Mitrovic’s pocket a few yards outside the Leicester area.
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48 min: … from which Lascelles does well to hold off the bulk of Huth in front of his own goal.
47 min: There’s definitely a goal in this for Newcastle. But for now they have some defending to do after Mahrez tumbles suspiciously on the right …
46 min: Wijnaldum barges through the middle then plays the ball out to the right flank to … nobody.
Peep! Off we go again.
So as it stands Leicester are going five points clear at the top of the Premier League with eight games remaining.
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Peep! Peep! Half-time. Leicester just about deserve their lead.
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45+1 min: One minute of added time to play. Time enough for Albrighton to swing in a corner and Elliott to grab.
45 min: Perez surges forward and looks to curl a shot at goal. He gets his angles a little wrong though and can only thunk the ball straight at Schmeichel.
43 min: It’s been very scrappy for the last 10 minutes or so, with both sides guilty of some dismal passing.
41 min: Leicester almost play themselves into trouble 30 yards from their own goal but eventually play themselves into a counterattack. A poor touch from Okazaki ends the break.
39 min: Mahrez does brilliantly inside the Leicester box – with Wijnaldum in space he tears back to close him down. Janmaat eventually plops a hideous effort over the bar.
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37 min: … taken short. Twenty-odd thousand people inside the King Power say to themselves: “A short one? We never score from short ones …” half seriously, half attempting to tempt fate. On this occasion they’re right.
36 min: Mahrez and Vardy combine neatly through the middle with the latter’s shot deflected away for a corner …
34 min: The Foxes have Newcastle where they want them now – because the visitors have the ball and are pushing forward, while the hosts sit deep and wait for the chance to counter.
32 min: Newcastle cut through Leicester really nicely but end up with Sissoko impeding Mitrovic as the latter looked to chest down 12 yards out.
30 min: Leicester fans direct a few “getting sacked in the morning” chants at Rafa Benitez.
28 min: So nearly 2-0! Albrighton surges through towards the heart of the Newcastle defence, with Taylor backpeddling. That allows the midfielder time to curl a shot perhaps a foot wide of Elliott’s left-hand post.
26 min: That was Okazaki’s first goal at the King Power and it was superbly done. Newcastle had been solid until that point but one poor clearing header, a bit of hunger from Vardy and a terrific finish has undone them. Now what?
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GOAL! Leicester City 1-0 Newcastle Utd (Okazaki 25)
Okazaki scores with a bicycle kick! Newcastle fail to deal with a deep free-kick into the box, Vardy nods the ball back across goal and the Japan striker does brilliantly to hook the ball in from six yards.
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23 min: Pass, pass, pass from Leicester but Newcastle are holding their shape nicely. You can almost feel the satisfaction emanating from the away technical area.
21 min: Mitrovic, causing a few problems for the Leicester backline, pulls a shot across goal.
19 min: … which is floated a yard or so over by Huth.
18 min: Mahrez flicks a shot at goal but Taylor gets his head in the way. Corner …
17 min: Newcastle break and Perez whips a dangerous ball across goal. Sissoko dives in at the back post but can’t make a clean contact with his head. An entertaining opening here.
16 min: We’ve had five solid minutes of Leicester pressure now.
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15 min: Okazaki lifts the ball into the box but again there’s a lack of crisp accuracy.
14 min: Vardy bursts into the box between two defenders and goes to ground under Janmaat’s challenge. Looked to be a 50-50 challenge but You’ve Seen Them Given.
13 min: Drinkwater gets beyond the Newcastle back four and to the by-line before pulling back the ball. Again it evades his team-mates.
11 min: Drinkwater fizzes in another cross after nice work from Mahrez. Again it is met by a Newcastle head but Leicester look finally to have settled into the game.
9 min: Albrighton pinches the ball in midfield and zips forward down the left. His cross is met by Lascelles.
7 min: … which comes to nothing.
6 min: Perez forces a corner down the Newcastle right …
5 min: Leicester haven’t got going here but Newcastle certainly have. Sissoko hoiks a cross in, Mitrovic chests down but sees his shot blocked and Colback thrashes a shot wide from the edge of the box.
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4 min: Perez slices a yard or so after Wijnaldum rattles the Leicester back four once more.
3 min: “Newcastle only have two settings as a club,” writes David Flynn. “1) Expecting a reaction for the new manager; 2) Awful. Everyone should note that the urge to default to setting 2 is more powerful than that of setting 1.”
2 min: The King Power is rocking. Not quite registering on the Richter scale yet but not far off.
1 min: Almost a disastrous start for the league leaders. Morgan sells Schmeichel short with a backpass after 10 seconds and Wijnaldum is a whisker away from blocking the clearance.
Peep! Off we go then.
Ranieri and Benitez share a cuddle in the tunnel and emerge into the King Power cauldron arm-in-arm.
Click-clack, click-clack … the players are in the tunnel.
There’s certainly some north-eastern optimism in the air tonight:
@John_Ashdown My hope for this game is that we see what players can do when they are inspired by their managers. It's been a long time #nufc
— Charlie (@areadingmachine) March 14, 2016
“I wish to stick my neck out and suggest you have underestimated Rafa’s absolute love of this sort of situation,” writes Ian Copestake. “Utter pragmatics is called for rather than some abstract notion of what Galactico football means. I would not be surprised if a draw is the least Newcastle manage and the least Rafa will be happy with.”
There’s some truth there but he’s had just two days with this side. He can’t work wonders.
Here’s Claudio! “The first match [under a new manager] there is a reaction from the players. But we are ready.”
For the next 20 minutes or so, the real action is over here:
The teams
Leicester City: Schmeichel; Simpson, Huth, Morgan (c), Fuchs; Mahrez, Kante, Drinkwater, Albrighton; Okazaki, Vardy. Subs: Schwarzer, Wasilewski, Amartey, Inler, Gray, Schlupp, Ulloa.
Newcastle United: Elliott; Janmaat, Taylor, Lascelles, Colback; Sissoko, Anita, Shelvey, Perez; Wijnaldum; Mitrovic. Subs: Darlow, Sterry, Saivet, Townsend, De Jong, Riviere, Doumbia.
So Leicester are unsurprisingly unchanged. Benitez’s first selection as Newcastle manager includes two changes from Steve McClaren’s last – Anita and Mitrovic come into the starting XI.
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Preamble
Nine games. Nine games stand between Leicester City and the Premier League title. Seven wins would probably be enough. This should be one of them, the Benítez Effect notwithstanding.
The portents all point to a home win. Leicester have been ruthless against sides in the bottom half – P15 W11 D4 L0 – and have been consistently excellent at Fortress King Power.
Newcastle haven’t won away from St James’ since that strange win over Tottenham just before Christmas. Indeed since then their six away trips – to West Brom, Arsenal, Watford, Everton, Chelsea and Stoke – have all ended in defeat.
And what do Newcastle United and Bob Geldof have in common? Neither of them like Mondays.
United have lost their last eight MNF matches, and haven’t even mustered a goal in the last five.
All of which suggests a chastening dugout debut for Rafa.
Kick-off: 8pm BST
(And, if you’ve not done so already, you should also give this wonderful piece by Gary Lineker a read too …)
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