Leicester Lose Out To League Leaders On Boxing Day

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Leicester Lose Out To League Leaders On Boxing Day

Taking the lead at Anfield, Leicester City eventually succumbed to a 3-1 defeat against Liverpool in the Premier League on Thursday evening.

2024-12-26T22:00+00:00

by Matthew Temple

Published

26 Dec, 2024

from Anfield

Leicester Lose Out To League Leaders On Boxing Day

Taking the lead at Anfield, Leicester City eventually succumbed to a 3-1 defeat against Liverpool in the Premier League on Thursday evening.

Matthew Temple

2024-12-26T22:00+00:00

Leicester Lose Out To League Leaders On Boxing Day

Taking the lead at Anfield, Leicester City eventually succumbed to a 3-1 defeat against Liverpool in the Premier League on Thursday evening.

Matthew Temple

2024-12-26T22:00+00:00

Leicester Lose Out To League Leaders On Boxing Day

Taking the lead at Anfield, Leicester City eventually succumbed to a 3-1 defeat against Liverpool in the Premier League on Thursday evening.

Matthew Temple

2024-12-26T22:00+00:00

Leicester Lose Out To League Leaders On Boxing Day

Taking the lead at Anfield, Leicester City eventually succumbed to a 3-1 defeat against Liverpool in the Premier League on Thursday evening.

Matthew Temple

2024-12-26T22:00+00:00

Jordan Ayew's 50th goal in English club football gave Leicester the lead at a foggy Anfield, before Cody Gakpo's curling effort drew the hosts back level on the brink of half-time. Minutes from the restart, Curtis Jones turned in an Alexis Mac Allister cross before the Premier League's top scorer Mohamed Salah made sure of the Liverpool win inside the final 10 minutes, resulting in Ruud van NIstelrooy's side dropping into 18th position and 18 games, on 14 points.

Following consecutive defeats to Newcastle United and most recently Wolverhampton Wanderers, Leicester travelled to Merseyside for the first of another three tough fixtures over the festive period, against Arne Slot's Reds. Always a testing place to go, made no easier with the weather conditions, City put themselves in the driving seat at a packed-out Anfield but eventually lost out to a side who have been beaten just once in all competitions this campaign. The Manager made three changes to the side that were defeated by Wolves last time out, with Oliver Skipp making way for the returning Harry Winks, Jakub Stolarczyk coming in for his first-ever Premier League appearance and Patson Daka making his first league start of the season, filling the void left by Jamie Vardy, who missed out through injury.

For the third time in as many visits, it was the Foxes who came out of the traps fastest, taking the lead through Ayew, who, on the spin, found the bottom left-hand corner after a quick counter-attack which saw the ball pass from Bilal El Khannouss to Stephy Mavididi before finding the Ghanaian. He followed in the footsteps of Kasey McAteer, who scored three minutes into a Carabao Cup Third Round fixture last season, after Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall netted within four minutes of Leicester's last top flight outing to Anfield - this month two years ago.

This opening piece of action came just minutes after an important stop at the other end from City's young Poland 'keeper. Stolarczyk was called into action once more 25 minutes in when he turned behind Andy Robertson's header, rebounding off the shot-stopper after striking the far post. Against the league leaders, Leicester's game plan at Anfield was clear as they looked to get players behind the ball and defend in numbers while making the most of their counter-attacks when they came. Unfortunately for City, their lead was wiped out just before half-time, when Gakpo cut inside James Justin from the left flank and fired in a curling effort in front of the Kop, pressing the reset button on the scoreline.

Not long after the restart, with the fog continuing to move across the pitch, Liverpool took the lead through Jones. Keeping the ball alive in the Leicester box, the ball was worked out to Mac Allister, who supplied a low cross into the path of the English youngster who made no mistake from just a few yards out; putting the Reds into the lead for the first time this evening, despite an intensive offside look by the VAR.

Approaching the hour-mark, the Merseyside club had the ball in the net once more, but as Gakpo wheeled off in celebration of his second goal, VAR intervened, this time chalking off the Dutchman's strike, not long after Daka missed an ideal opportunity at the other end, failing to sort his feet out in time to properly connect to Mavididi's low cross. In the closing stages, a goal from Salah arrived, notching his 16th in as many games with a trademark shot, cutting inside and sending a left-footed effort into the far corner of the City goal. Unable to keep a relentless side from scoring on their own turf and come back into the game, the Foxes attention must quickly turn to Sunday, when they return home to King Power Stadium for the visit of seventh-placed Manchester City.

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