City's First Team & Under-23s Off To Winning League Starts

Debutant Timothy Castagne opened the scoring before a brace from Jamie Vardy registered a 3-0 triumph for the senior side at West Bromwich Albion in the Premier League on Sunday.

City's Under-23s, meanwhile, followed up a 2-1 EFL Trophy success at Hull City with another impressive away win on Monday - defeating Manchester United 2-0 at Leigh Sports Village.

LCFC Women and the Club's Under-18s, on the other hand, were also in action over the past weekend - all recapped in one place on LCFC.com...

Leicester City's 2020/21 Premier League campaign got off to the best possible start with a resounding 3-0 victory over newly-promoted West Bromwich Albion on Sunday afternoon.

Castagne made his maiden start for the Club after signing from Atalanta this summer, while Nigeria international Wilfred Ndidi was utilised in central defence, alongside Çağlar Söyüncü.

Chances were few and far between during the opening exchanges at the Hawthorns, although Harvey Barnes twice went close on his return to the ground where he enjoyed a loan spell in 2018/19.

City continued to probe Sleven Bilić's Baggies, though, and they were rewarded for their efforts in the 56th minute as Dennis Praet floated a perfect cross in for Belgium team-mate Castagne.

The Foxes full-back leapt into action, beating Sam Johnstone in the Albion net, to open his account for the season and set Leicester on a course towards an opening day win.

Vardy - fouled by Kyle Bartley in the area - then stepped up to convert from the penalty spot before repeating the feat shortly afterwards following a late challenge on James Justin.

Speaking at full-time, Castagne told LCFC TV: “You have to choose the moments and also, we have to find the weak spots of the opposing team and we could find it in the second half.

“We did it well, and that’s why we won. We kept playing, we kept trying, and in the end, we didn’t give anything away. We scored three goals.”

Premier League standing: 2nd
Next up: Burnley (H)
Top scorer: Jamie Vardy (two goals)

The Club's Development Squad also enjoyed an encouraging start to their Premier League 2 Division 1 campaign by sealing a 2-0 success over Manchester United on Monday.

Vontae Daley-Campbell, Darnell Johnson and Khanya Leshabela returned to the line-up after missing last Tuesday's excellent 2-1 EFL Trophy victory over Hull City at KCOM Stadium.

After finishing second in PL2 last term, decided by a points-per-game system, the Foxes picked up where they left off with an assured performance against the newly promoted Red Devils.

Lining up in a 4-1-4-1 formation, City started quickly with both Khanya Leshabela and Callum Hulme rattling the woodwork for the visitors inside the opening 15 minutes in Greater Manchester.

Just before the interval, though, Leicester very nearly paid a harsh price for their failure to open the scoring as first Jakub Stolarczyk and then Mitch Clark both frantically denied Hannibal Mejbri.

The away side's dominance continued into the second period, though, as Ali Reghba capitalised on a mix-up to make it 1-0, before Clark launched a stunning long-range strike late on to wrap up the points.

"You saw at Hull, we beat another league opposition," Clarke said. "We obviously know that we can beat teams because we're so physical, so direct, we just run over teams and it pays off for us.

"I haven’t scored in a while! I had a shot in the first half that I should have hit the target, and then when I came in on my right I just thought to myself: why not?"

Premier League 2 Division 1 standing: 1st
Up next: Everton (A)
Top scorer: Callum Wright, George Hirst, Ali Reghba, Mitch Clark (one goal)

A last-gasp penalty from Natasha Flint rescued a 2-2 draw for LCFC Women at early pace-setters Sheffield United in the FA Women's Championship on Sunday.

Republic of Ireland international midfielder Ruesha Littlejohn made her full debut for City from the start, while Libby Smith also came into the side following a 3-0 win over Blackburn Rovers.

Inside the opening two minutes, the Foxes were ahead as Flint's low effort was palmed away by Blades 'keeper Fran Kitching right into Millie Farrow's path to net her first goal for the Club.

Despite such a promising start, though, Leicester found themselves 2-1 behind as a brace from Mel Johnson - her maiden goals for United - turned the match on its head at Proact Stadium.

The visitors kept battling and, with reinforcements Ashleigh Plumptre, Charlie Devlin and Lachante Paul arriving from the bench, they posed an increased threat in the latter moments.

That pressure paid dividends for LCFC Women in the 89th minute as Devlin was fouled in the area, offering Flint with a chance to score her third goal in two games since joining this summer.

Flint stepped up and duly converted her spot-kick, sealing a potentially precious point against a side many predict will be among the promotion candidates in the Championship this term.

Midfielder Remi Allen reflected: "We've got to do some more work on the training pitch and I'm hoping the more time we spend together, the more games we have, we'll be a little bit more united."

FA Women's Championship standing: 2nd
Next up: Manchester City (H)
Top scorer: Natasha Flint (three goals)

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Leicester City U18s

The young Foxes were narrowly beaten by Aston Villa as their 2020/21 campaign got underway.

Finally, City's Under-18s side were also in action, on Saturday, as they travelled to Bodymoor Heath Training Ground to tackle Aston Villa in the U18 Premier League South division.

The young Foxes were behind early on in Birmingham as Kahrel Reddin opened his account in the 2020/21 campaign for the home side, before Brad Young added another.

Leicester reacted well to falling two goals behind, however, and they got one back before the break as Terell Pennant added to his impressive 2019/20 goalscoring feats with another to make it 2-1.

The Club's Under-18s were ultimately unable to mount a stirring comeback at Villa, though, ahead of a visit to face Norwich City in the league later this month.

U18 Premier League South standing: 10th
Next up: Norwich City (A)
Top scorer: Terell Pennant (one goal)