City on the ropes early on, but then find character to earn split-decision
FOXES HIT BACK IMMEDIATELY FOR FOURTH TIME IN A MONTH
AN end-to-end affair finished level as Leicester City’s topsy-turvey season was encapsulated across 90 minutes at Leeds United.
Harvey Barnes’ sublime goal, just six touches after Leeds had opened the scoring midway through the first half, earned the 1-1 draw for City, but it would not have been deserved had Brendan Rodgers’ side not drastically improved in the final half-hour, where they saw an Ademola Lookman finish ruled out for offside amid several chances to win it.
Leeds’ ferocious style of play had City on the ropes early doors, Kasper Schmeichel coming to their rescue a few times with Raphinha eventually breaking the deadlock with a free-kick.
Barnes picked out the top corner moments later, but City did not improve, and chances kept falling Leeds’ way, with Jack Harrison missing a sitter as Rodgers’ men again struggled to defend corners.
But on the hour City found their feet and, with chances falling to Youri Tielemans and Caglar Soyuncu, as well as Lookman, they may have felt disappointed not to have taken all three points.
They head into the November international break in a much better place than where they were a month ago, but with plenty still to work on.
City had arrived at Elland Road on the back of disappointing results against Arsenal and Spartak Moscow, but had the personnel to freshen things up, with Wilfred Ndidi and Ricardo Pereira fit to start after injury, and Barnes back from illness.
Those three all came in, along with Lookman and Jamie Vardy, as Rodgers made five changes from midweek, reverting to a fourat-the-back system.
Frustrated by the lack of gutbusting recovery runs of recent games, Rodgers had threatened players with the axe if they did not run harder.
They may have done, but they were still no match for the energetic Leeds, who dominated early on.
Jack Harrison cut inside Ricardo, who struggled all game, and his deflected shot had to be tipped over acrobatically by Schmeichel. From the corner, Kalvin Phillips was allowed to run to the near post without pressure, but his header was kept out by City’s alert number one.
The danger was still not over and Raphinha beat Ricardo to get into the box before they both went over. City’s full-back looked like he had dragged the Brazilian down, but the decision went the other way.
It was an open game and it felt like goals were on the way.
City were just about keeping Leeds at bay with last-ditch interventions, but they were not creating their own chances because of a poor final ball, in spite of the gaps afforded to them.
Then, the Leeds goal came. Boubakary Soumare conceded a cheap free-kick, with the two sets of players lining up in the box for the delivery. But Raphinha ignored everybody, instead going for goal, and curling the ball into the far corner.
Against Manchester United, away at Spartak Moscow, in the cup against Brighton, City scored immediately from the kick-off, and they repeated the trick here.
Jonny Evans launched the ball forward, Soumare flicked on, and Barnes collected on the left side of the box, cutting past his man then bending the ball out of Illan Meslier’s reach and into the top corner.
It was his first Premier League goal in nine months, and it was one to savour.
The goal did not change the momentum of the game and Leeds continued to dominate, with Schmeichel needed again to prevent an own goal at a corner.
But the half ended with a fine chance for City. Lookman carried the ball forward into a space and played the right ball to Youri Tielemans sprinting alongside him, but slightly over-hit it, leaving the Belgian
to stretch as he struck goalwards, the ball flying over.
Tielemans had the first chance of the second half, this time striking past the far post with a vicious effort after Leeds failed to clear a corner properly.
The home side were still on top though, and should have taken the lead from their own corner, Phillips flicking on and Harrison arriving unmarked at the back post, somehow thighing the ball over the bar from a couple of yards out.
The opportunities kept coming, with Rodrigo volleying into the side-netting shortly after.
Around the hour mark, just as Elland Road was reaching peak volume, City found their feet. Their moves forward were more intricate and they started creating chances.
And they thought they had taken the lead when Vardy flicked on a corner at the near post and Lookman followed in at the far to tap in.
City celebrated and returned to their own half ready for kick-off, but VAR eventually called them back. Lookman was marginally offside.
City didn’t lose heart. Vardy robbed Liam Cooper and Tielemans nipped in, but Meslier was quickly out to smother him.
The young French goalkeeper then handed City a chance to score with a poor attempt to punch clear a cross, but Caglar Soyuncu at the back post scuffed his shot.
The match ended with a shot apiece, City’s falling to the wrong man in Ndidi before Raphinha’s well-hit drive flew just over.
By the end, with both teams out on their feet, a draw felt like a fair result. It was a reasonably positive note to go out on for City before another two-week break, but with the team only 12th in the table, there are still clearly areas for improvement.