Brighton continues their promising start to the Premier League campaign with a 2-1 victory over Leicester at the Amex as the Foxes lament their luck after two goals disallowed.
Brighton climbed up to fourth in the Premier League standings after a controversial penalty by Neal Maupay and a header by Danny Welbeck clinched a 2-1 win against Leicester in an eventful match filled with VAR controversies.
Brighton got themselves on the right side of VAR calls during the whole game as the visitors had two equalizers chalked off in the closing stages, with Harvey Barnes at fault after being adjudged to be offside and blocking the goalkeeper’s sight on both instances.
After a bright initial phase for Leicester, the first-half was majorly dominated by the home side who had the better chances, and they finally took the lead on the 35th-minute mark when they were awarded a penalty after Jannik Vestergaard handled the ball inside the box – despite the fact that he was clearly fouled. Anyways Maupay converted the penalty, sending Kasper Schmeichel the wrong way.
Danny Welbeck doubled the advantage shortly after the break with a fine header. However, after falling behind by two goals, Leicester started to impose themselves more and were soon rewarded for their proactiveness, with Jamie Vardy scoring his 150th goal for the club, finishing a perfectly crafted move to pull one back the visitors just over the hour mark.
The Foxes continued to apply pressure and pushed hard towards the end of the game but could not find the equalizer. It was a fairly entertaining affair, but eventually, a disappointment for Brendan Rodgers & co. as they have dropped to 12th place on the table. Here’s how we rated the performances of the Leicester stars at the Amex Stadium on the afternoon.
Kasper Schmeichel: 6/10
He spent the afternoon being ridiculed by Brighton supporters for his protests about the penalty. Although he conceded Welbeck’s well-timed header and went the wrong way on Maupay’s penalty, he had little else to do. His major saves came early on in the game, owing to his superb positioning. His ball distribution was hit-and-miss on the day.
Ricardo Pereira: 7/10
He was the only bright spark for Leicester in the first half as he was solid at the back and looked threatening going forwards. He picked up several promising positions, but Marc Cucurella gave him a lot of trouble defending early in the second half. He linked up very well with Ademola Lookman late in the game.
Caglar Soyuncu: 5/10
He appears more at ease beside Vestergaard, and those glary individual errors have also been reduced; although he handled the basics well enough, he was pulled around and was caught out of position several times in a sloppy first half.
Jannik Vestergaard: 5/10
A poor outing for the Danish international, he was sloppy clearing the ball and served Brighton with a chance and was caught off guard when he had to track back. He wasn’t comfortable against the opponents’ hard-pressing as Brighton repeatedly flicked the ball past him. He wasn’t at fault for the penalty, as Maupay clearly dragged him.
Ryan Bertrand: 5/10
He covered for his teammates and was decent defensively but conceded the free-kick on the left flank, resulting in Brighton’s second goal. He doesn’t offer the kind of outlet in the forward areas that Castagne seems to provide.
Wilfred Ndidi: 6/10
He produced a decent output in the engine room, a lot of defensive work as usual -three tackles, four interceptions and three aerial duels won speaks for itself – he was covering lots of spaces left by Leicester midfielders while attacking and was tracking back arduously through the whole game.
Boubakary Soumare: 7/10
He seemed bewildered at the start settling into the intensity and resilient press but grew into the game. He showcased a good first touch and carried the ball efficiently in the second half. He was progressive and surged past the Brighton midfield a fair few times.
Youri Tielemans: 6/10
A horrific first-half for the Belgian, short passes weren’t coming off, forcing him to make riskier passes, putting Leicester on the back foot. He came back strong in the second half and dictated the play, his delivery for Vardy’s goal was inch-prefect.
James Maddison: 4/10
He looked out of his depth on the unfavourable right-sided position and was anonymous throughout the first half. He was withdrawn at the break and rightly so, and he will likely be losing his starting berth to Lookman or Kelechi Iheanacho for the next game as they looked much better than Maddison in the limited game-time given to them.
Jamie Vardy: 7/10
He was left very much isolated upfront, barely feeding off the scraps but managed to get his 150th goal for the club with another instinctive finish. Brighton dealt with him individually and kept him at bay for the major chunk of the game.
Harvey Barnes: 6/10
Nowhere to be seen early on, but when the Foxes did create some good attacks in the second half, he looked dangerous with his pace and caused problems for Brighton’s defence. He was unfortunate for being caught offside on both incidents leading to chalked off goals but maybe should have learned from the first one.
SUBSTITUTES
Ademola Lookman: 8/10
He was sent to change the game and did exactly what was demanded. He was lively, creative, tricky and combined brilliantly with Ricardo, made excellent runs, dragged the defenders towards him with his remarkable dribbling and directness. Reading out some of his stats, two shots, two key passes and four dribbles are incredible metrics in only 45 minutes. Maybe he should start the next game ahead of Maddison.
Timothy Castagne: 6/10
Castagne’s introduction gave Leicester a boost in the attacking third, which Bertrand was not offering. Barnes was more effective from the moment Castagne came on.
Kelechi Iheanacho: 5/10
He wasn’t much effective after coming on for Soumare. Leicester switched to front-two of Vardy and Iheanacho for the final quarter of the game.
