Warsaw vs Leicester City Report

By Ethan Farmer

Legia Warsaw 1-0 Leicester City

The Foxes’ search for a first win of their Europa League campaign continues. The East Midlands side slumped to their fourth defeat in their last eight matches in all competitions, only winning two of them.

The match was decided in the 31^st minute by Mahir Emreli. The Azerbaijan international scored after receiving the ball on the edge of the box from Soares Pesqueira. Emreli manages to outmuscle Daniel Amartey to get his shot off. His left footed strike cannoned of the right post and in as he got his 10^th goal of the season for the Polish outfit.

However, Czesław Michniewicz’s men didn’t have it all their own way as the away side did create a few chances. The most notable chance fell to new signing Jannik Vestergaard. Legia Warsaw’s goalkeeper Cezary Miszta was equal to the Dane’s header in the second half. The 19-year-old’s reflex save kept his side ahead.

The only other chance of note created by Brendan Rodgers’ side came from Ayoze Pérez. Patson Daka played the Spaniard through just for his first half shot to go wide and not trouble the goalkeeper.

This means Brendan Rodgers’ side have just one point from their first two group stage matches – leaving them in the group. However, they can feel unfortunate to have not left Poland with a draw. This is because the Foxes created 1.51 xG compared to their opponents’ 1.14 (according to The xG Philosophy).

Despite the xG, Leicester’s rotated squad lacked rhythm and didn’t look like the Leicester we’ve come to know under Rodgers. They travel to Selhurst Park to play Crystal Palace on Sunday in what feels like a must win game for the Northern Irish manager. He is unlikely to stick to the three at the back that he deployed in this match. But Sunday is a big game for Leicester City as they look to refind their mojo from the past two season.