Winning run comes to an end… Report By Simon Mack

Leicester City 1 Norwich 1

15^th December 2019 3pm

Attendance: 31,101

The foxes and canaries fought out a draw at King Power Stadium in an unusually conventional 3pm Saturday kick off Premier League tie.

Brendan Rodgers named an unchanged team from the previous weekend’s handsome victory away at Aston Villa meaning Kelechi Iheanacho and Dennis Praet kept their places in the starting line-up.

The canaries had shown previously that they could mix it with the sides occupying the upper reaches of the table and Norwich Manager Daniel Farke brought his side to the midlands with some positive intent in mind and early on this was on display as the team in yellow went toe to toe with their hosts.

Kelechi Iheanacho had a chance to break the deadlock from the edge of the box after a squared ball from Dennis Praet allowed him to drift infield toward goal, and minutes later some neat play from the back found Maddison in the middle of the park who rolled the ball into Youri Tielemans path, the Belgian fired the ball goal ward low and hard but was denied by Dutchman Tim Krul between the Norwich posts despite his fumbling of the ball.

As the game continued to flow end to end just before the half hour the canaries broke the deadlock when  Emiliano Buendia found himself in space in the middle of the park and played a sublime through ball into top scorer Teemu Pukki and the lead was taken by the visitors. Pukki had come close from a low cross moments before and the warning signs had been there for the foxes as Norwich’s neat positive play in midfield looked like it could cause some damage as it had from the first whistle.

The foxes attempted to restore parity almost immediately and some clever play between Maddison, Iheanacho and finally Ricardo put the foxes raiding full back in a good spot on the edge of the opponents box however Pukki was back and on defensive duty now and his full bloodied tackle saw him and Ricardo down and the ball played out so injured parties could get treatment. However when Ricardo threw the ball back into Iheanacho rather than making the sporting gesture of playing it back to their opponent as tradition would expect he carried on playing running toward goal and was scythed down on the edge of the box by a furious Christoph Zimmermann at centre back for the canaries. A huge melee ensued that referee Andy Madley struggled to control and in the tussle with Ihanacho down on the floor Todd Cantwell was involved in an altercation with the foxes Nigerian striker. But VAR did not deem the incident a red card and the young canaries midfielder was put into the book by the on field referee. There was no real suggestion that Ihanacho had attempted to gain an unfair advantage by not passing the ball back to Norwich as play continued, and the Nigerian seemed more confused by the situation that anything else.

Just before the half time whistle the foxes were on level terms. An in swinging corner from James Maddison found Jamie Vardy rising high at the near post and the resulting header canaries keeper Krul could only get a half hand to and the ball’s trajectory was diverted into the goal: 1-1.

Iheanacho was immediately withdrawn from the game post goal in an unusual before half time tactical substitution from Brandan Rodgers as Demari Gray came into the match to provide more width from the right.

Half time

Into the second half and the foxes were hunting the goal that would give them a 9^th win in a row. Dennis Praet was soon withdrawn as yet more width was added to midfield by Harvey Barnes and a beautiful long drifting ball from James Maddison found the onrushing Jamie Vardy to the left of the Norwich box who rounded the keeper but struck the near post with his effort from wide.

Ndidi played in Chilwell and his cross found Vardy but Krul put a stop to the foxes top scorer taking the lead. Gray toiled on the right but couldn’t find a way through and Vardy went so close again from a tussle at a corner, his effort tipped round the post by Krul.

Norwich had a half chance late on as Pukki ran onto a long ball but Soyunchu cleared the ball before a shot could be fired, and Ricardo also dealt well with Pukki when the Finnish striker went hunting once more for a shock winning goal.

Final whistle 1-1

Canaries boss Farke declared his team’s performance the best of the season to date and there seemed no doubt that the foxes had caught their visitors on a very good day. Teemu Pukki had broken his toe in that clash with Ricardo mid-way through the first half and had toughed it out as had the foxes who could well have found a winning goal with the near misses in the 2^nd period but arguably Norwich could say the same so maybe honours even was ultimately a fair result.

Post-match foxes boss Brendan Rodgers was  questioned about the growing gap between his side and league leaders Liverpool but was quick to dismiss any talk of the title saying it had not even been mentioned in discussions with his players.

Many of the foxes faithful left the game disappointed at a match up on paper and form  that should have delivered a 9^th consecutive win for the home side. However the visiting canaries produced a performance of credit. Whilst they sat deep and made it very congested and difficult for their hosts at times when Norwich had the ball they attacked with skill precision and purpose and for me this match was to the canaries credit as they put on a display that is worthy of a side far higher up in the table.

Man of the match for Leicester? A tossup between the bright, influential and unlucky not to score Youri Tielemans who worked hard in midfield both in attack and defence in a congested midfield to ensure another city win, but ultimately on balance for me the Leicester MOTM would be Wilfred Ndidi who not only broke up so much of the canaries positive play but also was the foundation and creator in this match for a lot of Leicester’s decent attacking play.

Leicester move onto a mid-week Carabao Cup ¼ final against Everton and then its the 2 big games first away to Manchester City then home on Boxing Day night to league leaders Liverpool. The next 11 days will set the foundation for the new year and give indication to Leicester’s chances of a trophy this term, however and despite the disappointment walking away from King Power Stadium yesterday evening the foxes are 2^nd and some 14 points clear of 5^th place and that if you’d suggested it as the season commenced is a place in the league most city fans would be delighted to be.