Kel of a goal ends Foxes’ mini slump
WILFRED NDIDI clipped a pass into the Burnley box and Kelechi Iheancho peeled away from Ben Mee. The Leicester striker demonstrated perfect technique, keeping track of the ball as it dropped over his shoulder before lashing home a left-footed volley.
It was a wonderful goal and one worthy of winning any game. Unfortunately for Leicester, it didn’t. We were 34 minutes in at Turf Moor when Iheanacho cancelled out Matej Vydra’s early strike and that’s how it stayed.
This could be viewed as a poor result for a Leicester side looking for a win to consolidate their place in the top four.
After defeats by Slavia Prague and Arsenal, the last thing Brendan Rodgers needed was to lose three in a row for the first time as Leicester boss, amid fears his team could suffer another end-of-season meltdown.
This should go down as a rather useful point, though. Leicester are riddled with injuries and came up against a feisty Burnley side stung by Sunday’s surrender at Spurs.
The visitors conceded an awful goal only four minutes in and were thankful to Kasper Schmeichel for outstanding saves from Chris Wood and James Tarkowski.
‘That’s why he is one of the top keepers at this level,’ said Rodgers. ‘There are moments when it looks like it’s going to be a goal and he pulls off a save. He always produces for us and was outstanding when he had to be tonight.
‘It was a brilliant goal by Iheanacho, good movement from the two strikers and fabulous technique.
‘Overall, we take our point. We’re not in the top four until the season is finished. We have to keep working every day. Everyone is talking about the injury list but we have to deal with it.’
Rodgers confirmed that Harvey Barnes would have knee surgery today and the absence of Jonny Evans here meant Leicester were forced to drop midfielder Ndidi into the middle of a back three.
It played a part in Leicester conceding early on when Ndidi passed out to Hamza Choudhury, whose return ball fell well short of his team-mate.
The fault lay with Choudhury, no doubt, but Ndidi was slower to react than Vydra, who showed more desire to win a 50-50 challenge on the edge of the box.
The Burnley striker hit a clinical finish past Schmeichel — his first league goal in 375 days. ‘An awful goal, poor from our perspective,’ admitted Rodgers.
Choudhury failed to make amends when presented with a chance in front of goal from Timothy Castagne’s cross, Iheanacho flashed another effort wide and Youri Tielemans brought a smart save from Nick Pope.
Burnley also had their chances when two slips from Caglar Soyuncu allowed Vydra to threaten and Wood’s volley to bring a smart save from Schmeichel.
It was nothing compared to the two stops he produced either side of half-time. The first came when he got down at his near post to prevent Tarkowski’s header from crossing the line.
The second was even better in the 49th minute, when Wood headed goalwards from Matt Lowton’s cross and Schmeichel flung himself left to turn the ball away.
Both teams also hit the post, Ashley Westwood volleying against the foot of the upright and Tielemens seeing his effort deflected on to the woodwork by Jack Cork.
It meant a fourth straight league draw at home for Burnley but a point that nudges them closer to safety is not to be sniffed at.
‘Leicester are equalling Man City away from home, so they’re no mugs,’ said Dyche, who has enough injuries of his own to contend with. ‘You can’t be too greedy and the performance was important, getting back to what we are about.’