Leicester City 1-2 Chelsea, Premier League: Reaction after the match, viewership

The first 35 minutes of this game was purely an exercise of attack versus defense, with the game completely played in Leicester‘s half and Chelsea have practically all the possession.

We also made that dominance count and created plenty of dangerous situations and Nicolas Jackson opened the scoring in the quarter with a lovely, confident effort. Noni Madueke then doubled our lead but the goal was chalked off by VAR for offside in the build-up. Before then, VAR also decided against sending off Wilfred Ndidi for a ridiculous challenge on Palmer’s Achilles.

And then suddenly the game devolved into a bit of chaos, with Leicester creating a couple of dangerous counter-attacks, just missing the target each time, Chelsea playing us into danger with silly passes at the back, and Madueke missing the empty net on a counter of our own.

We survived the ten minute period without any lasting damage, but the second half began as a much more even affair, with the home side actually having to play a lot more. Chelsea almost got the early second goal, which would have been quite helpful, but Palmer’s close-range shot hit a team-mate’s leg instead of the empty net behind him.

We could laugh about that a little more in the 75th minute when the long-awaited second goal finally arrived: Enzo followed up a Jackson header that was somehow kept out by the keeper.

Thankfully that made the final quarter less dramatic than it was heading for, although Fofana was a bit lucky as VAR actually favored us and decided that Mavididi falling over him was not a penalty. (See them given!)

Except VAR outweighed that bit of common sense by awarding Leicester a penalty because Bobby DeCordova-Reid tripped over his own feet in the box. Absolutely ridiculous decision. Jordan Ayew was able to convert, for what was comfortingly nothing but comforting.

Carefree.

• Three changes compared to the last game before the break, when Badiashile, Enzo and Félix entered. Fofana the nominal right-back, but more of a back-three with Cucurella straddling the left and Colwill playing in the middle. Palms deeper, Félix in his pocket,
• Palmer, Félix facing heavy challenges, lucky to avoid serious injuries
• Velbhas missed out due to illness, Neto with a knock picked up at half-time
• Caicedo does not finish the game; hopefully nothing injury related. Colwill also stays down at the very end, but is then able to leave
• Chelsea remain in third place, with the rest of the league still to play this weekend
• Next: Heidenheim away in the Conference League
• KTBFFH

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