Leicester City 2-0 Wolverhampton Wanderers
The Foxes and Wolves both tried their best to play ferocious football against considerably tough competition, and both of them fared well. Wolverhampton split the points with Everton while Leicester almost pulled off a draw against Manchester United.
The Premier League Leicester vs Wolves match was a game the two clubs were hoping to utilise in order to jumpstart their campaigns and get more points on the table. It’s games like this that will decide whether a team stays up in the English top flight or heads down to the Championship with some of the other former Premier League sides.
The kind of match the King Power Stadium crowd saw was a great battle, where two blue-collar sides showed no fear of rough-housing and made considerable tackles. The game got so physical that Michael Dean got busy bringing out the cards out of his pocket.
Fortunately for the home crowd, Leicester won this Battle of the Predators and secured the three points. This is a great boon for Claude Puel’s men as they try to vie for a better finish this season. Meanwhile, Nuno Espirito Santo will have to go back to the drawing board and see how he will get his squad to work.
Highlights of the game
The match started with both sides poking the defence and attempting to break through for an early lead. The Wolves, with the Portugal national team standing in for the Starting XI, were the first ones to test keeper and Danish guardian deity Kasper Schmeichel.
Joao Moutinho got hold of a loose pass and tried a cannon from the edge of the box. Unfortunately for him, the shot was blocked by a crossbar as it was quickly cleared to safety. Matt Doherty quickly followed up with his own shot in the fourth minute, but a Leicester defender managed to block the shot.
Leicester vs Wolves odds were starting to move towards the favour of the visitors as the match went on. They kept on pounding the backline, trying to break through and find the winning goal. Bullet-like passes were fired by both sides to little success. Raul Jimenez, however, managed to turn one pass into a goal-scoring opportunity after firing his shot to the top-right corner. Schmeichel made a brilliant save to keep the score clean.
It was during the middle of the first half that the Wolves suddenly find themselves in back foot, however. Marc Albrighton fired a corner from the right, hoping that it would turn out to something positive. Doherty hesitated and mistakenly headed the ball to his own net.
This is where the game — and the Leicester vs Wolves highlights — started to pick up. Leicester made the most out of the sudden momentum shift and connected strings of brilliant attacks. Rui Patricio had to make brilliant saves and give precise instructions in order to halt the bleeding. Ruben Neves tried to lead Wolves through with his superb passing.
However, James Maddison sealed the game with a winner of a strike at the death of the first half. Ricardo Pereira’s piercing run from the right opened the space in front of Maddison. Leicester’s No10, who had a strong outing against Manchester United, then fired a shot from just outside the box. The shot was deflected just enough to be out of reach for Patricio.
The second half didn’t see much action in terms of goals. However, Leicester did everything they can to at least bring themselves within striking distance of the game. Adama Traore fired a powerful shot inside the penalty area, but Schmeichel superbly kept his clean sheet.
It was in the 66th minute that the King Power Stadium saw its first red card of the season. Jamie Vardy made an uncharacteristically rough tackle from Doherty, and the danger of the tackle was more than enough to convince Dean to pull out the red card.
The referee brought out the yellow card three more times as tempers flared, but nobody followed Vardy to the showers as the game ended in a resounding Leicester victory.
Key statistics
This victory gives Leicester a five-game advantage over Wolves in their head-to-head scoreboards. The result has also built an interesting pattern: the home team has always won the last four times these two clubs played each other.
Leicester had a tad bit of the ball during the first half, but Nuno’s half-time tweaks during the second half saw Wolves with much of the ball for the remainder of the game. Wolves also took more corner kicks and goal attempts as they desperately tried to salvage a result.
Vardy is the third Premier League player to be slapped with a red card in the first two weeks of Premier League action. He joins Isaac Hayden of Newcastle on the bench as they serve their one-game suspensions. Everton’s Phil Jagielka already did time for his red card during the club’s first game of the season.
What’s next?
Leicester will be headed south as they face Southampton next in the Premier League. With Vardy suspended, Puel will need Shinji Okazaki and the rest of the strike force to be on the ready to play in place of their talisman striker.
Meanwhile, Wolverhampton Wanderers’ season continues to get harder. They face defending champions Manchester City next. SBOBET fans may already be writing them off, but super signing Rui Patricio may be able to pull off a surprise result.
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