U21s Report: Chelsea 0 Leicester City 1

Striker Harry Panayiotou’s early goal proved to be enough for the Foxes to beat the highly-rated London outfit and in turn meant City stretched their unbeaten run to six games in all competitions.
Steve Beaglehole’s outfit had already faced Chelsea at King Power Stadium back in September – a goal from Gary Taylor-Fletcher earning City a U21 Premier League point in a 1-1 draw on that day.
The Foxes were in fine form going into the clash and knew a win against Chelsea could take them up to seventh in the table.
First-teamers Anthony Knockaert and Tom Lawrence each got some valuable game time under their belt, with both attackers playing 90 minutes in the win.
City got off to a blistering start thanks to Panayiotou. The St. Kitts and Nevis international pinched the ball off defender Dion Conroy before slotting in past Mitchell Beeney with just three minutes on the clock.
The visitors thought they had doubled their lead on nine minutes when Joe Dodoo’s 25-yard free-kick deflected off the Chelsea wall, sending the ball just inches wide of the target.
Lawrence was next to try his luck from range with a 30-yard free-kick that again struck the opposition’s wall before Panayiotou forced Beeney into another save just moments later.
Knockaert’s impressive display on the right wing then saw the Frenchman glide past his marker and draw a save from Chelsea’s shot-stopper.
Chelsea could have levelled things up six minutes before the break. Striker Reece Mitchell arrived into the City box unmarked, but couldn’t direct his header from Kevin Wright’s pin-point cross towards goal – 1-0 to City at the break.
Lawrence tested Beeney with a free-kick three minutes into the second period – the Chelsea ‘keeper tipping the Welshman’s deflected effort behind.
Adam Smith produced a stunning stop five minutes later. Nathan Ake’s deflected free-kick fell straight into the path of Alex Kiwomya, who saw his low drive blocked by the City goalkeeper.
Chelsea had plenty of possession in the second period, but City remained defiant at the back. Smith was next to deny the Londoners, comfortably collecting Ake’s free-kick with 10 minutes to play.
Smith collected efforts from Ike Ugbo and Ruben Loftus-Cheek before substitute Kasey Palmer fired into City’s side-netting late on.
Chelsea mounted a late siege on the Foxes’ box, but composed defensive work saw City return to Leicester with all three points.
Beaglehole’s outfit next face Sunderland at King Power Stadium in the U21 Premier League on Monday 16 March.
CHELSEA: Beeney, Dabo, Conroy, Christensen, Wright, Ake, Kiwomya, Houghton (c) (Palmer 55), Mitchell, Loftus-Cheek, Boga (Ugbo 64)
SUBS NOT USED: Granger, Ali, Suljic
CITY: Smith, Pearson (c), Chilwell, McCourt (Stankevicius 79), Sesay, Davis, Lawrence, Barmby (Kennedy 70), Panayiotou, Knockaert, Dodoo (Rowley 64)
SUBS NOT USED: Maddison, Scott
GOAL: Panayiotou 3
REFEREE: Mr. C Hatzidakis