This had the makings of a good game between Leicester who were 3rd in the league coming into this with a chance of going 2nd above Man United, and Leeds who were 12th coming into this.
In the reverse fixture at Elland Road, Leicester tore Leeds apart, but they maybe wouldn’t this time without their main man Jamie Vardy , so how would this pan out?
It was played at the King Power Stadium.
Reference for picture: https://www.facebook.com/LeedsUnited/photos
First goal of the game
There had been a couple of Leicester chances, but after 12 minutes came the first goal as Barnes ran and ran and did a 1-2 with Maddison and Barnes coolly slotted into the bottom corner to give Leicester the lead.
Leeds equaliser
However just three minutes later, Leeds had a great response as Ayling ran and ran, passed to Bamford who played a nice pass into Dallas who finished calmly, it was a frantic start to this game.
Five minutes later, Leicester thought they’d gone back in front as Maddison’s shot deflected and Perez was following in to score, but the goal was ruled out for offside.
After half an hour another Leeds chance as Harrison had a left footed shot from the left side of the box which was saved by Schmeichel for a Leeds corner, which came to nothing.
After 33 minutes, there was a nice move by Leeds which ended with a right footed shot from Raphinha from the centre of the box which was saved by Schmeichel for a corner which came to nothing.
There were a few more Leicester chances before half-time but none were goal scoring chances.
Halftime score: Â Leicester City 1-1 Leeds United
It was an end to end first half with both teams creating chances, Schmeichel was the busier of the 2 goalkeepers, would there be at least a couple more goals in the 2nd half?
After 49 minutes Fofana was bundled to the floor by Cooper, VAR checked and no penalty awarded.
After 58 minutes Pereira had a right footed shot from outside the box which was saved.
2nd goal for Leeds which was stunning
After 70 minutes there was a stunning 2nd Leeds goal. Evans cleared the ball for Leicester, it fell to Struijk who passed to Raphinha who in turn passed to Bamford with a 1st time defence splitting pass, and running on Bamford crafted a little space and curled his shot sublimely into the top right corner.
After 74 minutes, Fofana’s right footed shot from the centre of the box was blocked.
A couple of minutes later, another Leicester chance as Mendy’s shot was saved by Meslier.
There were more Leicester chances but they were either blocked or saved.
With 10 minutes left, from a Leeds corner , Struijk had an air shot.
Third Leeds goal
With six minutes remaining, incredibly Leeds had a 3rd as on the counter attack Dallas passed to Klich who passed to Bamford who ran from his own half , he was in on goal he would surely shoot wouldn’t he, no is the answer as he unselfishly squared to Harrison who scored.
The match drifted to a conclusion.
Fulltime score: Leicester City 1-3 Leeds United
A brilliant away performance from Leeds United at a title challenger as well, three goals including 1 stunner. It was an all-round brilliant performance from Leeds.
Highlights of this game are at this link:
Leeds remain in 12th place but on 29 points now, 15 points clear of bottom 3 but only 6 points off 5th.
Next up for Leeds is a home game against Everton on Wednesday 3rd February 2021 with a 7:30pm kickoff and that will be a very interesting game as it’s the first game with a hybrid pitch which means it’ll be a pitch made of both natural grass and synthetic fibres. The reason they’re using a hybrid pitch is it’s a short-term solution for the pitch until it gets relayered in the summer.
