Chelsea 0-1 Leicester City: The Foxes grab a shock win at Stamford Bridge
Maurizio Sarri suffered his first home defeat as the manager of Chelsea as the blues went down 1-0 to Leicester City at the Stamford Bridge in the Premier League on Saturday.
Chelsea started the game the brighter of the two teams and dominated the possession in the first half. The Blues kept probing away with short quick passes but just lacked that final bit to put any sort of pressure on Kasper Schmeichel.
Leicester sat back inside their own half and absorbed the pressure very well until a bizarre error from the backline allowed Eden Hazard to get a clear sight of goal from close range but the Belgian could only manage to hit the crossbar.
Despite being deprived of the ball, Leicester had some good passages of play and Wilfried Ndidi forced a sharp flying save from Kepa Arrizabalaga with his powerful long-range effort. Chelsea raised the ante in the closing stages of the first-half and Willian had a good opportunity to score from a counter-attack. But the Brazilian fired his shot straight at the goalkeeper.
With both teams deadlocked at 0-0, Leicester started the second half on a brighter note, keeping more of the ball and passing it around with purpose. The visitors soon reaped the rewards as Ricardo Pereira wreaked havoc with a brisk counter-attack.
The Portuguese international carried the ball from inside his own half and created space for James Maddison who slipped the ball into the path of Jamie Vardy with an exquisite pass for the Englishman to find the roof of the net with a thunderous finish.
Chelsea were rattled by Leicester’s intent and never quite got going in the second half. Eden Hazard and N’Golo Kante tried to make things happen with some good link-up play but the Foxes deserve all the credit for organising themselves very well at the back to render Chelsea’s passing ineffective.
The Blues switched gears and pushed hard for an equaliser. Antonio Rudiger had a good chance from Pedro’s corner, only to fire his glancing header inches wide of the far post. However, Marcos Alonso arguably had the best chance of the game.
The Spaniard got on the end of N’Golo Kante’s pass and found himself clear through on goal with only Schmeichel to beat but could only manage to rattle the inside of the post.
Leicester held on to their lead amidst some late scare and climbed to 9th place in the standings. Chelsea, on the other hand, should be kicking themselves for not being able to claim all three points and close the gap on Manchester City after the Cityzens suffered a shock 3-2 defeat against Crystal Palace.
Here’s how the Leicester City fans reacted to the shock win:
Meanwhile, #LeicesterCity set for their 1st @premierleague win over the #Chavs @ Stamford Bridge since September 2000. Quite a day of history making today.
— Tanvir Hamid (@TanvirHamid1982) December 22, 2018
Merry Christmas u filthy animals
1 point off 6th , win away at Stamford bridge 😆⚽🎄🦊🦊🦊🦊🦊🦊🦊🦊🦊🦊🦊🦊🦊🦊🦊🦊🦊🦊🦊🦊🦊🦊🦊🦊🦊🦊#Lcfc #ChristmasEveEveEve #LeicesterCity #CHELEI pic.twitter.com/PNmrpi9rOB— Lee Chappy (@Lee_Chappy) December 22, 2018
The perfect Christmas gift one could ever ask for…#LeicesterCity
— France Kgopisi (@france_kgopisi) December 22, 2018
Ndidi just nearly scored what probably would have been a #Puskas contending goal. #LeicesterCity
— Fryderyk Martinez, J.D (@FreddyyMartinez) December 22, 2018
Doing it once again at Stamford Bridge, Jamie Vardy!😉 #LeicesterCity #CHELEI https://t.co/lJeaA0ve1T
— Diana Yeow (@dy158) December 22, 2018
What a finish by @vardy7, #chelsea wia court sleeping by the #LeicesterCity attack, thats the mark of a true goal scorer!!! #SSFootball
— Nagi Mohammad (@nagibbl) December 22, 2018