Leicester go top with narrow win over West Brom

13 days ago

Leicester managed to attain only their fourth victory out of 10 matches.

Leicester City regained their position as the leaders of the Championship after winning a thrilling derby game against West Brom in the Midlands. The game took place at the King Power Stadium.

Wilfried Ndidi and Jamie Vardy scored for Leicester City in the two halves to break their series of recent losses, although Jed Wallace managed to reduce the gap by scoring a goal 14 minutes before the end of the game.

Towards the end of the first half, Vardy failed to score a penalty.

Leicester have a lead of four points over Leeds, who are in third place, and both teams have three matches remaining.

West Brom stays at fifth place and are in a good position to qualify for the play-offs; however, they were unhappy about the number of missed chances, especially in the second half.

The pace of the game was intense, and both teams made errors that contributed to the palpable tension in the atmosphere. Yokuslu missed a crucial opportunity to quiet the lively home supporters only two minutes into the match by shooting the ball too high. Meanwhile, an inaccurate pass by Ndidi halted a potential offensive play by Leicester on the opposite side of the field.

To maintain the same score, Hamza Choudhury made an excellent move to clear the ball from Mikey Johnston's strong shot near the goal line. Later on, the talented winger showed some fancy footwork and managed to get past the defenders to create an opportunity to score, which was then thwarted by Mads Hermansen's save.

Johnston was creating chaos with his counter-attacks, and nearly scored once more. He aggressively overpowered Abdul Fatawu to take possession of the ball, but unfortunately shot it too high and missed the goal.

West Bromwich Albion team suffered the consequences of their unsuccessful attempts in the match when Wilfred Ndidi scored the first goal at the 22nd minute, and the players' emotions of being relieved were obvious. As soon as Wout Faes gave a cross to Jamie Vardy for a header, Alex Palmer managed to block the shot but Ndidi was ready to kick the ball in the net.

As the first half was coming to a close, something dramatic happened in the game. Yokuslu did a foul on Vardy just near the penalty area and the referee gave a penalty, but unfortunately, Vardy's shot hit the post.

The Foxes were able to maintain their lead thanks to two impressive stops by Choudhury near the goal line early in the second half. He managed to block a shot by Grady Diangana from point-blank range, causing the ball to go out of bounds and forcing a corner kick. Despite getting a second chance from a header off the ensuing corner kick, Diangana was unable to score as his shot hit the crossbar and bounced away.

Surprisingly, Leicester was still in the lead before the hour mark. Diangana missed another chance by shooting wide after a cross from Darnell Furlong. Furlong also had a shot that was redirected wide by Faes.

Once more, during the 65th minute, Leicester punished the opposing team for not scoring. Vardy made up for his past mistake with a header, courtesy of Fatawu's precise cross.

Eleven minutes after the start of the game, Wallace managed to successfully score for West Brom. This was made possible by Cedric Kipre who delivered a remarkable long ball. However, even with a last-minute attempt to catch up, they were left disappointed as they failed to score due to their poor finishing moves.

During an interview with BBC Radio Leicester, Enzo Maresca, the manager of Leicester, stated that...

This was a crucial victory, especially considering the timing of the season. West Brom has only employed a five-man lineup like this once before, in a game against Wolves earlier in the season.

We didn't know what to expect, but they caught us off guard at the start of the game.

Our performance in the initial 10 minutes was subpar, but we quickly adjusted and were able to showcase a solid game for approximately 30 minutes in the first half. During this time, we had several opportunities to score additional goals.

In the latter part of the game, there were some fluctuations in form which is understandable as the team had experienced two back-to-back losses which resulted in some anxiety. Currently, we have reached a position that we rightfully earned.

We are nearing our goal - we must secure victories and end the season on a high note.

We had periods of dominating the game while fluctuating in others, almost like the back-and-forth nature of a basketball game.

Carlos Corberan, the manager of West Brom, informed BBC Radio WM:

In my opinion, it was straightforward that we should have obtained something greater than what we accomplished today.

Throughout the entire game, the team put forth a commendable effort and effectively controlled the outcome.

We didn't handle some situations very well, but overall I am very happy with our pressing and attacking play. Actually, I am more pleased with this game than any of the previous seven away games that we didn't lose.

My squad displayed a significant amount of individuality. We performed to the best of our abilities, but unfortunately it wasn't sufficient to secure a victory.

We are aware that we have control over the play-offs and we are ready to compete until the final seconds of the ultimate game.

The game has come to an end, with Leicester City scoring 2 goals and West Bromwich Albion scoring 1.

The concluding part of the football match sees Leicester City triumphing over West Bromwich Albion with a score of 2-1.

Cédric Kipré from West Bromwich Albion has just received a yellow card.

Conor Townsend (West Bromwich Albion) committed a foul.

The Leicester City player, Harry Winks, has managed to secure a free kick in the defensive area.

The goalkeeper successfully blocked the effort made by John Swift of West Bromwich Albion. Swift shot the ball from outside the box using his right foot, but it was stopped by the goalie in the bottom right corner. Matt Phillips helped set up the shot.

Grady Diangana, a player from West Bromwich Albion, tried to score a goal with a header from the middle of the penalty area, but it was stopped by the opposing team's defense. Nathaniel Chalobah helped by passing the ball to Grady with a cross.

The referee gave a yellow card to Wilfred Ndidi of Leicester City.

John Swift from West Bromwich Albion took a shot with his right foot from outside the box but missed to the right. Cédric Kipré helped with the play.

Harry Winks (Leicester City) has committed a foul.

Nathaniel Chalobah from West Bromwich Albion team has just received a free kick in the attacking half of the field.

West Bromwich Albion's corner has been granted by the fault of James Justin.

In the corner area of the field, West Bromwich Albion had to give up their position due to Hamza Choudhury.

Leicester City makes a substitution as James Justin comes on for Stephy Mavididi.

The referee gave Patson Daka (a player from Leicester City) a yellow card because he committed a foul that was considered bad.

Patson Daka from Leicester City has committed a foul.

West Bromwich Albion's player, Darnell Furlong, has been awarded a free kick in the defensive half.

A change has been made to the Leicester City team lineup. Patson Daka has taken the place of Jamie Vardy.

Leicester City's Hamza Choudhury was given a yellow card after committing a rough foul during the game.