Leicester City took on Portsmouth at the King Power Stadium on Saturday, with the two teams playing to a 1-1 draw. Match stats It was another sorry tale for struggling Leicester, who were five points adrift of Championship leaders Coventry. That draw marked the fifth time in six games that Leicester City have been unable to earn a win.
Leicester City came out of the gates hot, laying siege with promising looks at goal to establish their dominance early on. Regrettably, even after a hot start, they missed the mark on maximizing their chances. Most importantly, Abdul Fatawu narrowly volleyed over from the edge of the penalty area, wasting an opportunity to give the hosts a first half lead.
Leicester’s Early Dominance
In the 26th minute, the home side found pay dirt at last. Aaron Ramsey scored his first goal for Leicester City, sending the home supporters into raptures. The young midfielder smashed his team’s opener after a perfectly placed Fatawu cross. This goal was a shining moment in an otherwise rough match for Leicester.
“It was probably one of the best 45 minutes of the season, we pressed really well and showed much more quality, we were superb.” – John Mousinho
Even after going up 2-0, Leicester had a hard time finding their feet. Harry Winks almost made it two with a stinger of a drive. He bent the ball around the wall and just inside the post from 25 yards. Portsmouth’s keeper, Joe Bursik, was called on to make some huge saves all game long. His beautiful save on Fatawu’s blast to the upper corner gave his team a chance.
Portsmouth’s Rally
As the second half started, Pompey stepped it up a notch and started to carve out chances themselves. The visitors drew level soon after the break, taking advantage of Leicester’s failure to add to their lead. That equalizing draw really changed the atmosphere of the game and Portsmouth started to believe.
Leicester brought on intelligent subs to take hold of the match. Jordan Ayew entered the fray and nearly brought Leicester’s lead back within a minute of his introduction. Hamza Choudhury tried to provide an assist of his own when his cross was turned wide by Luke Thomas. But in spite of these efforts, Leicester were unable to score again.
“The second half was not at the level we want it, but I’m very self-critical and the second half should have been much better.” – Marti Cifuentes
Implications for Leicester City
The outcome leaves Leicester City adrift of Coventry City in the race for the second promotion spot. This ongoing struggle has only deepened questions over their performance inconsistency. The team’s head coach, Marti Cifuentes, said he was frustrated by the second half and recognized things that need to be addressed.
Following the drab draw away to Portsmouth, Leicester City need to change the way they approach games. Boundary breaking moving ahead in the season takes new thinking. Understandably, the pressure has been ratcheted up significantly as every point becomes critical in their fight to claw their way back up the league’s table.
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