Leicester and Chelsea draw lunchtime thriller

Leicester and Chelsea shared the spoils in an entertaining 2-2 draw at the King Power Stadium.

Chelsea started the game well, dominating possession and looking dangerous in attack. Once again, Reece James caught the eye with some dangerous crosses. Unfortunately for the Blues, no one could get on the end of them.

In fact, for all of Chelsea’s perceived dominance of the early stages of the game, it was Leicester who had the first clear cut chance in the 25th minute of the game. Jamie Vardy got put clean through by a delicate chest down from Ayoze Perez and saw his shot well saved by the legs of Willy Caballero who came out, narrowed the angle and spread himself well.

Chelsea created a good chance of their own a few minutes later as Pedro broke into the penalty area and tried an intricate chip over Schmeichel but the Leicester ‘keeper watched it well and tipped it over the bar for a corner.

Both sides spurned a chance in added time at the end of the first half with Callum Hudson-Odoi blazing over the bar for Chelsea and Hamza Choudhury heading wide from a corner for the hosts.

At half-time, the talking point was the lack of clinical finishing from both sides but it’s fair to say they more than made up for it in the second half.

It did not take long for the deadlock to be broken thanks to Antonio Rüdiger’s downward header in the 47th minute from a corner delivered to the back post by Mason Mount. The German rose higher than Choudhury and nodded it beyond Schmeichel who had thought about coming to claim but changed his mind.

Conceding the goal only served to galvanise Leicester who then began to control the game. Caballero was forced into action almost immediately as he made another smart block with his legs to prevent an equaliser.

However, five minutes later Leicester did level things up. Harvey Barnes received the ball after an incisive pass from Youri Tielemans. He cut in from the left wing into the penalty area and shifted the ball onto his right foot. His shot took a deflection off Reece James and spun over the head of a scrambling Caballero and into the net. 

Ten minutes later, in the 64th minute, Ben Chilwell slotted Leicester in front following a mistake from Caballero. Chilwell tried to stand the ball up towards the back post but slightly overhit his cross. The goalkeeper decided to chase the ball to the edge of his area but was beaten to it by Ricardo Pereira who laid it back to Tielemans. Caballero tried to get back into position but Tielemans found Chilwell with a low ball across the box and he placed it into the corner of the net with a first time right footed finish.

Leicester continued to dominate and nearly extended their lead with Tielemans shooting hard and low from 30 yards, denied only by a sprawling Caballero who managed to parry it away.

A rare Chelsea break saw Mount hacked down on the left wing and with the resultant freekick, he delivered the ball with pace deep into the box and once again Rudiger, standing next to the penalty spot, powered a header into the top corner of the net to bring the Blues level.

With time running out it was Leicester who had the best chances to win the game. Firstly, Maddison’s corner picked out an unmarked Jonny Evans but from about eight yards out the Northern Ireland international got it all wrong and headed it wide of the target. Secondly, Perez put Vardy in down the right flank and the striker squared it perfectly to Barnes who side footed it past Caballero but also just past the wrong side of the post.

In added time Leicester appealed for a penalty as Barnes’ cross hit Rudiger’s hand but it was adjudged to have been ball to hand by the officials.

A draw keeps the gap between the two sides at eight points and sees Chelsea extend their advantage over fifth placed Manchester United to seven points.

Leicester: Schmeichel, Pereira, Evans, Soyuncu, Chilwell, Choudhury, Perez, Tielemans, Maddison, Barnes, Vardy.

Chelsea: Caballero, James, Christensen, Rudiger, Azpilicueta, Kante, Jorginho, Hudson-Odoi, Mount, Pedro, Abraham.

Subs:

74 – Pedro off Willian on

      Jorginho off Kovacic on

80 – Vardy off Iheanacho on

      Tielemans off Praet on

83- Abraham off Barkley on

Attendance: 32,186