7th win in a row! Report By Simon Mack!

Leicester City  Watford 

4^th December 2019 19:30

King Power Stadium

Attendance: 31763

City ground out their 7^th win on the trot at King Power Stadium on a fresh evening to break a winning streak club record dating back to 1963 and retain their 3 point cushion in 2^nd place to last season’s title winners Manchester City

Leicester made 1 change from the team that had taken the field for the last 6 winning matched with Ben Chilwell having picked up a knock in Sunday’s game at home to Everton being replaced by Chrstian Fuchs.

The game was a frustrating one for the foxes faithful at times as visitors Watford (who are rock bottom of the league and manager less) sat deep and were another arrival at King Power that looked to frustrate.

Post-match Brendan Rodger alluded to the need to produce high energy performances week in week out when teams arrive to disrupt city’s creative play, but with this being the second game in 3 days  the technical ability and enthusiasm was present but the relentless tenacity came and went during the 90 minutes as Leicester laboured to break through Watford’s almost entire team behind the ball.

Early exchanges produced a couple of decent chances for the foxes including an attack ruled offside that city played on through and Ayonze Perez skied his chance high over the bar. Replays showed had he scored VAR may well have overturned the on field offside call, and soon after Jamie Vardy was brought down in the box but no spot kick awarded. VAR ran its beady eye over the incident and upheld the on field decision, but replays showed there had been contact and most who viewed the incident felt it was a spot kick.

Harvey Barnes was bright and positive throughout the match until his 2^nd half withdrawal, and numerous bursting runs from the left gave him shooting opportunities that didn’t bear fruit. Nonetheless his penetrating and decisive play whenever afforded opportunity was the most brightly shining positive influence on city’s play on the evening, and for me his performance was the stand out in the game.

Into the 2^nd half Ayonze Perez was withdrawn for Dennis Praet in a subtle change of formation by foxes boss Brendan Rodgers, and from a set piece Jonny Evans at the back post was shoved in the face by hornets full back Adam Masina. VAR looked again as it always does this time upholding the spot kick ruling. Up stepped Vardy and glided the ball to the left of a hapless Ben Foster in the Watford goal to give city the lead.

Choudhury entered the fray in place of Youri Tielemans and the superb Harvey Barnes made way for James Justin as the young full back made his Premier League debut. Justin was highly impressive in his left sided cameo that saw him continue the great work along the left flank, and with the extra guile in midfield from the likes of Praet and Choudhury James Maddison managed to find space through the middle with a driving run into the box and his resultant shot found its way into the far corner past a felled Ben Foster who could only get a ineffective toe to the effort.

With the clock deep into injury time Madders goal was the decisive one to secure the 3 points and a 7^th consecutive win for city. The foxes may not have produced their finest of vintage in terms of performance but this was another game where the opponent came to frustrate and counter, and Leicester found a way to secure the win once again to maintain their superb run of Premier League form.

MOTM: Harvey Barnes. A consistent positive, driving threat down the left all evening that caused the hornet’s defence a myriad of headaches and only denied a goal by some decent goalkeeping by Ben Foster. Unlucky not to get on the score sheet and deserving of Rodger’s praise post-match Barnes was the most impressive attacking force on the pitch during this frustrating evening at King Power Stadium.

Here are the Match highlights…!