PACK CAN SCENT NERVOUS FOXES 2 1
Top-four bid is in danger as Rodgers restart stalls again
LEICESTER is back in lockdown but the city’s football team look like they never came out of it.
Brendan Rodgers might be wishing the season was ended in March now Leicester City have gone three games without a win since the Premier League’s restart.
That is because Manchester United and Wolves are closing in on the out-of-form Foxes in the battle for the top four.
Leicester’s hopes of a return to the Champions League are seriously under threat unless they get their tails up soon.
Everton deserve credit here with an impressive performance in the first half. Richarlison’s early strike finished a good move, while Iceland ace Gylfi Sigurdsson was cool from the spot to tuck away Everton’s first penalty of the league season.
Kelechi Iheanacho pulled one back for the visitors but, despite an improved second half and a jittery Jordan Pickford, they could not get an equaliser. United and Wolves now trail Leicester by just three points and Rodgers knows his side have a daunting run-in which includes Arsenal, Tottenham and a final-day showdown against Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men.
Carlo Ancelotti’s side chased down the visitors from the off and were slick in attack. Their 19-year-old ace Anthony Gordon showed why he is so highly rated and it was his cross which Richarlison, right, turned past Kasper Schmeichel in the 10th minute.
Not long after, a Lucas Digne free-kick looked to have been misjudged by Michael Keane but replays showed it was Wilfred Ndidi’s hand which caused the problem.
It still took VAR three minutes to decide and hand Everton the penalty.
Sigurdsson stepped up to calmly fire home in the 16th minute. It was the first penalty the Toffees have scored here since December 2017, when Wayne Rooney netted against Swansea.
Leicester were given hope after the restart when Iheanacho pulled one back, although it was fortunate as Mason Holgate’s clearance cannoned into the substitute and then into the net. The visitors almost got more luck when Pickford let a low cross from Marc Albrighton through his grasp and it nearly deflected in off Keane, but the defender just got back to clear off the line. Everton held on under pressure to leave Leicester feeling their rivals breathing down their necks. EVERTON (4-4-2): Pickford 5; Coleman 7, Holgate 7, Keane 7, Digne 7; Iwobi 6 (Mina 68, 6), Gomes 7, Sigurdsson 7, Gordon 7 (Bernard 78); Calvert-Lewin 7, Richarlison 7 (Davies 57, 6). Goals: Richarlison 10, Sigurdsson 16 pen.
LEICESTER (4-1-4-1): Schmeichel 7; Justin 6, Evans 7, Soyuncu 7, Chilwell 6; Ndidi 6; Albrighton 6 (Gray 81), Tielemans 7 (Perez 81), Praet 6 (Maddison 46, 6), Barnes 6 (Iheanacho 46, 6); Vardy 6. Goal: Iheanacho 51.