Everton hang on for three points and set Leicester's nerves jangling
Champions League restrictions may be imposed on Leicester unless they find an antidote to 2020’s downturn. Brendan Rodgers can feel Manchester United and Wolves breathing down his neck after his side’s winless restart continued at Everton.
Carlo Ancelotti’s team condemned the visitors to a costly defeat at Goodison Park that threatens their long residence among this season’s top four. Leicester have been in the Champions League places every week bar one since 24 August, but on current form they will not hold off United or Wolves for long. It is a decline that pre-dates lockdown and has deepened afterwards.
A sluggish start offered Everton the cushion of a two-goal lead and, despite a stirring second half response, the loss means Rodgers’ team have taken a mere 13 points from 36 since the turn of the year. “We have to reset mentally to achieve what we wanted to achieve,” said the Leicester manager. “Our form has not been the best for a long period now, but it is still in our own hands to achieve what would be a dream for us. We have six games to go and we have to fight as much as we possibly can.”
Rodgers had the notebook out and a face like thunder with only 16 minutes gone. A lack of tempo has been a recurring fault since the restart and incisive play by Everton combined to punish it once again. The hosts were sharper on the ball and more aggressive in their defensive work from the start. Richarlison made the breakthrough when Lucas Digne released Anthony Gordon with a deft header from Mason Holgate’s pass. The 19-year-old Gordon, making only his second Premier League start, cut the ball back perfectly from the byline for the Brazilian to beat Kasper Schmeichel with an emphatic close-range finish.
Gordon had been handed his full debut against Liverpool and, while the intensity of a derby proved a difficult grounding, his touch and vision impressed greatly against Leicester. He released Dominic Calvert-Lewin for what would have been a second Premier League assist, only for Caglar Soyuncu to brush aside the striker legitimately inside the area.
Everton had the cushion of a second goal by that stage and, no doubt to their surprise, it arrived via a VAR penalty award. Wilfred Ndidi challenged Michael Keane at Digne’s freekick and connected with his hand, as the reaction of several Everton players attested. VAR required more than two minutes to decide whether the ball struck Keane’s head or hand before finding its way on to Ndidi. A tight call went against Leicester’s holding midfielder and Gylfi Sigurdsson rolled the resulting spot-kick – Everton’s first in 39 league games – confidently past Schmeichel. “It was so harsh,” said Rodgers. “It was certainly not clear and obvious.”
Leicester’s recovery was slow in coming, and Everton defenders were quick to throw their bodies in front of danger when it eventually materialised. Keane blocked a Youri Tielemans volley from a corner, Jordan Pickford saved at Jonny Evans’ feet and Digne denied Marc Albrighton.
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In the second half Rodgers’ introduction of Kelechi Iheanacho and James Maddison injected muchneeded urgency into their performance and altered the flow of the contest. Iheanacho reduced the arrears when Vardy flicked Tielemans’ cross into his path inside the area. The striker’s first touch was heavy but Holgate hooked an attempted clearance back into his face and the ball sailed beyond Pickford.
Luck favoured Leicester on that occasion, but switched to Everton’s side when Pickford fumbled Albrighton’s low cross. The ball struck Keane and trickled goalwards but the central defender was just able to clear on the line.
Ancelotti reverted to a five-man defence to stem the tide but it kept coming. Iheanacho fired over after Pickford failed to reach another cross by Albrighton, while Sigurdsson denied the substitute Ayoze Pérez with a vital challenge in stoppage time as Everton held out for a win that preserves their hopes of Europa League qualification. Leicester have grander designs, but are in danger of fading from view.