Wilfred Ndidi set up compatriot Kelechi Iheanacho whose goal however was not enough as Leicester lost 2-1 to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, to boost their hopes of Champions League qualification, Completesports.com reports.
Iheanacho, who replaced James Maddison on 60 minutes, slotted home Ndidi’s well laid pass to make it 2-1 after goals from Antonio Rudiger (47th minute) and Jorginho (penalty, 66th minute) had given Chelsea a 2-0 lead.
Iheanacho’s goal means he has become the first player in Premier League history to score a goal in all seven days of the week in the same season.
Also Read: Man United Create Unwanted Record In Home Draw Vs Relegated Fulham
In the 90th minute Leicester almost grabbed a late equaliser but Ayoze Perez smashed a glorious chance over the crossbar.
In front of 8,000 returning fans at Stamford Bridge, the Chelsea leapfrogged the Foxes into third position on 67 points. Leicester are now fourth on 66.
Leicester are just three points ahead of fifth-place Liverpool, who have a superior goal difference and a game in hand, making the Reds favourites to finish fourth.
Werner had two goals correctly ruled out in the first-half, one for offside and another for handball, but was denied a penalty despite a clear foul from Youri Tielemans.
The defeat sends Leicester crashing back down to earth after their FA Cup final triumph over Chelsea on Saturday.
By James Agberebi
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39 Comments
Rogers should have started kelechi…the guys creates this panic in defenses…. Madison just returned from injury and you are rushing him into a match like this and leaving iheanacho who is on fire on the bench?…leceister have shot themselves in the foot again like last season
Rogers don’t trust Iheanacho
I still believe Iheanacho will do better else where. What will he do before he will be trusted. How can you leave your most In-form striker on the bench for such a crucial match. So that means immediately, Madison is fully fit, Kelechi will return back to bench role. That is not good at all.
Iheanacho is playing because Barnes is injured
I was surprised when I saw the lineups today. Rogers left the only striker who has been on fire on the bench. Where was the goals supposed to come from?
The last match fa cup saw ihaenacho falling easily wen tackled. That is y the coach did Wat he did . Well. I would hAve done same.if I was the coach. It is better to play strong on the field. Fall strong. Run strong. Dribble strong. Goals will come wen it will. Senior man scored today. Carvani lukaku osimen Drogba of old. Now iwobi was invited he is not playing. I just chip it in here.
Only God knows where you got this your analysis from…kelechi fall just like every player that is singled out for attention like Chelsea did to him through rudiga…That is not an excuse to drop your most inform strike option and likely goal scorer…Thank God you are not a coach because sentiment will affect your team selection….Iwobi is not playing?are you for real?…he is playing too much as a substitute is different from he is not playing at all o….Iwobi has been involved with at least 50percent of Everton’s matches for the last 10 matches…he even came in as a sub against Aston Villa last week.Please we should invest our time and money into following football leagues and matches before coming to a public forum like this to comment like this…. Europeans and foreigners come here for updates some times o…Abeg
Leicester coach was real silly for leaving Iheanacho on the bench today until later. He have himself to blame.
Rogers just shot himself on the foot by benching Kelechi for Maddison. He must be receiving a lot of flacks from Leicester fans tonight. Sometimes I wonder wetin some coaches dey smoke? How could you leave your most inform goal scorer out of your first 11 for an important match as these?? I hope Leicester can still make the top 4, but it will be very difficult. At least they should’ve got a draw from this match. I absolutely think Kelechi should move away from that club, once Harvey Barnes and Maddison are fully fit Rogers will always play them ahead of Iheanacho. I have no idea what else a 20 goals striker needs to do other than fitness issues not to be the first name on your starting 11 in an important match against Chelsea. I’m sure he will be getting a lot suitors from now on he just need to choose his next destination carefully.
20 goals within the short period of time he started using him.
Premier league managers are under TREMENDOUS PRESSURE to start English players in their squads. It has always been the case. It will not change anytime soon.
The only way a non English player can hold down a starting jersey is if he is head and shoulders better than the English options in the squad. If the talent levels are the same or there is a small difference, English boy has the advantage.
Ndidi that is starting games now, if Rodgers signs DMs like Declan Rice or Kevin Phillips, or any other 3 Lions DM, what do you think will happen? E go dey like film.
When Harvey Barnes and Maddison regain full fitness, back to the bench goes Nacho. Move on to another club that truly values you, or continue to play second fiddle at Leicester.
@ Pompei common sense wey no common be reservoir for your side. God bless. Nacho like Alexander The King Iwobi has some critical decisions to make. They must realise they ve got nothing to prove to those that lack common sense but just go on to enjoy their Football going forward. Regular Football is like eating regularly to stay healthy n strong. Don’t blame Rodgers or any of these managers. These things come from higher ups and disruptive football politics. You can only be lucky to get away with it but only for a moment. Enjoy that moment n etch your name in glory n when it comes, seek a comfort zone or you gradually get decimated in productivity. Alexander The King Iwobi proved his requisite skills at top club, top position, arsenal and SE even at such young age. Nacho has been proving himself at Leicester n SE too. Thierry Henry
‘The Igwe’ struggled at Juve, came to arsenal to a manager that trusted in his ability n became the greatest. Only a never do well will try discredit these amazing ambassadors of Nigeria, most possibly because they refused them ‘wetin dem go chop’. Victor Moses is enjoying his football in Russia, that fans are beginning to appreciate him again. Why? He plays regularly. Who gives a hoot it being England whose national team hasn’t won anything for some Methuselah years now? Lol but only those still bewitched by everything English however degrading. I saw the Leicester line up and no Nacho? I just turned everything off. Even in that FA cup, Nacho could have scored had it being he was left on to play till the end but it was very obvious Rodgers was seriously under pressure to get him out for Madison. It’s bad. So bad because we can’t rule out a part of Rodgers wishing Nacho performs poorly so returning him to the bench becomes justified. Let’s think for once, if Nacho had been an English player.
Whatever the case may be. Kelechi has proved himself this season. He is Leicesters highest goal scorer this season and his goals took them to the fa cup final. If they dont make it to the champions league next season, the coach will have to bare the blame. If he insists on fielding recovering players due to his preferences instead of in form players, then he should be ready for whatever the result may be. Next season will determine if he will confine kelechi to a bench role or not. Man city are in search of a good striker and someone suggested that they should recall kelechi back. Big teams appreciate what he is doing this season, if Leicester still wants to play him from the bench, they should be ready to let him go.
Brodaman, them suppose give you award for this your contribution. There are two types of players, those like Iheanacho who have proved themselves with stats and figures to back it up and perennial under achievers who are known for inconsistency like Alex Iwobi. It is not rocket science. Those who are blinded by sentimental thoughs whose reasoning faculty does not allow them to differentiate between club football and national team football will come out and argue foolishly. Why on earth will Brendan Rodgers bench Iheanacho? It is his goals that got them to this position. It is his goals that got them to the FA Cup final. These coaches sometimes shoot themselves in the foot. At least he was punished by Chelsea for his actions while Iheanacho proved himself again. At least Iheanacho proved it at Manchester City and also this season that he is a Premier League material. Perennial inconsistent players like Alex Iwobi should shape up or ship out. He failed to impress consistently at Arsenal and he is failing to impress consistently in Everton. Is Saka not a Black player? How come he is receiving plaudits at the very same Arsenal? We should tell ourselves the truth. Whenever Iwobi has one good match and score one goal in 500 games, his rabid egotistical shallow minded fans will come here and start praising their Jehovah. When he goes another 1000 games without a meaningful impact, they will all of a sudden start making lame excuses. If Iwobi is not good for the Premier league let him try Turkey, Austria or better still follow in the footsteps of Victor Moses to Russia, maybe finally he will find his feet consistently. Brendan Rodgers should never have benched Iheanacho yesterday. This season, Iheanacho found his consistency. You do not reward that with a bench role.
ALEXANDER THE KING IWOBI REFUSER TO FEED THE STRAY DOGS IS HAVING THEM CONSTANTLY REFUSING TO HAVE SOME COMMON SENSE. LUKAKU COULD HAVE BEEN TERMED A FAILURE BY THESE NEVER DO WELL HAD HE REMAINED AT BOTH CHELSEA N MAN U. EVIL PEOPLE WHO ARE ONLY GOOD AT FAILING, ALWAYS LOOKING TO DRAG VERY SUCCESSFUL YOUNG ONES LIKE ALEXANDER IWOBI ALONG. THEY CONSTANTLY DECIEVE THEMSELVES THINKING THEY ARE DECIEVING OTHERS CLAIMING THEY THEIR UTTERANCE IS A WAY OF SUPPORTING WHEN YOU CAN HARDLY FIND ANYTHING OF THEM MWENTIONING WHAT THESE PLAYERS HAVE TO DO TO IMPROVE. TOTALLY BEREFT OF HOW FOOTBALL WORK AND EVIDENTLY ONLY GETTING INTO FOOTBALL BECAUSE OF THE NOISY GATHERING AT LOCAL FOOTBALL LIVE CENTRES TO BET THEIR HUNGRY LIFE OUT. UP UP UP ALEXANDER THE KING IWOBI. I N I GLORY IS FOREVER HERE TO STAND BY YUR…
Calm down dear, it is only a conversation about football. Typing in all capital letters like a raving lunatic only serves to reveal delusion, paranoia and a confused state of mind. If facts and statistics bear you out, you don’t need to shout at the top of your voice to be heard or type in capital letters to be understood. At the age of 24, Alex Iwobi is currently regarded as a Premier League underachiever. I don’t need to shout or type in capital letters to embellish that fact. 2 goals in 2 seasons for a multi million pounds player is disgraceful. We made excuses for him when he was at Arsenal posting inconsistent performance, we are making excuses for him at Everton. Now, the school of thought is that he may have to leave the English Premer League to find consistency, the same league that Kanu, Yakubu, Yobo and others made their home. I don’t need anyone to preach to me about Iwobi’s performance for Nigeria, that would be like preaching to the converted. We are talking about club football where Iwobi has consistently failed to find his feet consistently. When he performs well, the club is good, the coach is great, the league is good. Immediately he reverts to his inconsistent type, then we start making all sorts of excuses, shouting at the top of our voice and typing in capital like an in-pateint in a mental asylum ward (lol). If you like Iwobi, that is your cup of tea. I would not be suprised if in your walk of life , you display the same level of inconsistent outputs that Iwobi manifests in club football. Ostrich brain people who claim to know football but cannot distinguish between national team conversion on 1 side and club football conversation on another. People who don’t believe in taking responsibility for their own outcomes. Rather, they blame everyone and everything else other than themselves. What gets me most is that such people think they know football whereas their contributions reveal something quite to the contrary. Olodo!
Why, shouldn’t we support a player who have been so consistent with the supereagles in his last three games, that he was singled out with coronavirus test by Benin fa as the eagles biggest treath, is enough message, who cares about club football, the reason I am football fan today is the supereagles, falcons, eaglets, dream team, and all other eagles, I don’t care what they do in clubs, clubs comes after, clubs is strictly business football, the reason you think iwobi is not consistent is bcoz of the numbers are not coming, which is now the modern headache in football, is iwobi a striker? No, he is a playmaker, he moves very fast with the ball, and dribbles easily, he still passes very good, still mentains very perfect control of the ball, why should I criticize him, even as horrible as the serrielone pitch iwobi was the best player on the pitch, he got assist that was disallowed. Before the DStv era, how many people cares about club football? Iwobi create chances for eagles more than anyother playmaker in the team, and he have been consistent since he debuted for eagles, To train regularly with a premier league team like Everton require alot fitness, so iwobi is fit and strong, who knows if God is keeping him away from injury ahead of afcon, bcoz when their clubs overused them and get them injured for long time we will not have them to use, kalu, chukwuez and balogun is already in doubt, I hope iwobi situation in Everton should improve, and it also depends on the coach, at list ancheloti can’t say Iwobi is his problem, Everton lost more matches without Iwobi. Club football is business and national team football is passion and pride, as far as Iwobi remains eagles key play maker I don’t care about what Everton is doing.
@Collins,may you walk and never stumble. Like you said, I join you in hoping that Iwobi’s situation at Everton and by extention in club football improves. You have said it all. The raw talent is there and we are blessed to have seen Iwobi produce consistently for Nigeria. What I love about your contribution was how you prayed for Iwobi to produce his outcomes for Everton as well. This is long overdue. We are witnessing a season unprecedented in the history of Nigerian football when our players are doing well in club football across Europe across departments. Okoye (GK), Balogun (CB), Ndidi (DM), Aribo (CM), Iheanacho (SS) and Osimhen (CF) are examples of players doing fantastic in club football. It bleeds my heart that Iwobi is not among these players. Rather, football aficionados are making one excuse after another for him. The coach does not like him, his players do not like him, the formation is not good for him. Now some are starting to say the whole English Premer League might not be good for Iwobi, haba!!!!!
Please. I join you in praying for Iwobi. I pray that we will celebrate him in club football like we have been celebrating Ndidi and the likes the last season.
Rogers! Rogers! Rogers! You are a disgrace. We Africans wonder why a man should eat rice with his fingers when his mother has bought him s spoon. You had the spoon (Seniorman), but you were so pig-headed that you refused to use it. Who would you blame?
Iwobi has underachieved to this point in his career. It’s as simple as that…
@Jimmy ball, your kind of analytical mind is only found in 10% of the entire African populace. May you walk and never tumble. The fact is indisputable. Iwobi has been poor in club football up to this stage of his career, as simple as that. Common sense is not common. Ten Gbosas for you Brodaman.
YOU CAN CHANGE FROM BINGO TO SKIPPY. A STRAY DOG REMAINS A STRAY DOG. EVER SO PROUD OF ALEXANDER THE KING IWOBI. IF YOU CANT TAKE THAT, BETTER HANG.
Passion is one thing, analysis is another, I get you .
Heavenly father! Nobody is saying you should not like a club underachieving player. For you to be proud of failure reveals something sick and depraved about you which only can be cured with the help of a therapist. No need for me to hang. Like you, I love Alex Iwobi with all my heart. Where we differ is that the love I have for Iwobi has not blinded me to the fact that he has massively underachieved in club football up to this stage of his club career. He is not getting any younger and time waits for nobody especially footballers. With young, vibrant, energetic and creative footballers like Saka emerging by day, Iwobi might just find himself making way for these players if he doesn’t shape up. Soon, you would hear Galastasaray or Fenerbahce coming for him. This is a player that should be playing for Real Madrid or even Barcelona. We are now talking about him going to France or Russia, the same France that Osimhen used as a launch pad, what a pity! I do pray Iwobi finds his feet in club football. When that happens, I will be the first to praise his name to high heavens. For now, Iwobi is an underachiever in club football football according to the stats out there. If you can’t reconcile yourself with reality as shown in stats publicly available, you can swallow cyanide capsule. At least, that will rid this platform of an inconsistent contributor. Werey!
One who can’t be consistent with common online name for discuss. Hiding under different names to either solicit for support from known learned here and change to another name to attack same, here talking of consistency. SUCH A COWARD YET WILL SHAMEFULLY CRY OUT FOR WAR ONLY BECAUSE HE IS BEHIND HIS COMPUTER. Complete waste of space contributing absolutely nothing on here except to attack The ever successful ALEXANDER THE KING IWOBI. Waiting to read something meaningful from this stray dog is like a never ending journey. Only full of envy towards successful footballers n even forumites here with distinguished knowledge. I pity anyone who fraternises with this stray dog that oozes so much negative energies, such will definitely get infected. No surprise though, stray dogs do infect.
Glory if you really Love Alexander the King as you claim, this is not the way to love him. Hyping him up when he is underperforming is not Love it is deceit. If you truly Love Alex. you will Advice him to up his game because if he doesn’t others are and he will soon fall down the pecking order whether you love him or not, Even if he is your King or not.. Love should be honest not deceiving. Thank you
I rest my case. Heaven bless you Ugo.
@ Ugo. Kindly understand my position. Critisicm points out areas to improve n not vague/ crass disregard of someone that has at some point proved capable. This I term hate and will never support. We all come here to read n learn from others certain details of football but when comments isn’t given any details but just vague, then you begin to sense some witch hunting. Yes Iwobi is not having a good season, just like Nacho some few months ago. But the reason for this is what positive minds wanna hear. Bent that had been one of Iwobis worst critic gave some reasons for his under performance, wherein , he stated things like adapting to a new environment, managers tactics etc. All these very true, as they can affect a players performance. Does that make Iwobi a bad player to deserve constant attack. For me, definitely No. Rather he needs support. Managers have their own type of players and sorry, if you don’t fall into that type, you are bound to struggle with game time which ultimately tells on performance eg Henry at Juve, De Brunye at Chelsea, Salah at Chelsea, Lukaku at both Chelsea/ Man u etc . I can go on n on. A player that has at many occasions showed how good his ability is only deserves support at trying moments instead of castigation. Mind you @ Ugo, Im not in anyway related to these players. A Calabar/ Itsekiri man I am. Just strongly detest anything that tries to defame another man. God bless.
Now I see your point Brodaman Glory. No hard feelings bro. We should be in unity in calling out hateful rhetorics and we should not allow evil agents to ruin our football. I misunderstood you Glory. We are on the same crusade as I will never rest until these evil agents are unmasked and shown for what they are. We should not allow this bring-him-down syndrome. If someone criticised Iwobi only to force their players on the national team, we must call this out and shame it. @Glory, Jehova bless you brother man.
Oga when I see constructive criticism I recognize it… telling a EPL player of 8years to move to turkey or Russia where is mates are is not constructive criticism…it’s called hatred and derision….Leave Iwobi alone Everton has a very large sqard and many good players where sent on loan last season e.g Walcott so if Everton with all their knowledge of football decide to keep Iwobi it means they see something in him….Do you guys know football more than the legendary Anceloti?…Stop the hate it’s becoming irritating.
Oga AKP, please don’t misunderstande @Glory like I did. His heart is in the right place. What he is trying to say is that there might be factors outside Iwobi’s hands making him struggle at Everton. If he goes to another club or another league, he might finally start fulfilling his potentials. I agree with @Glory on this point. Some people come here and publish epistles because they want to promote Ramon Azeez ahead of Iwobi. Where is the Ramon Azeez today? This bring-him-down syndrome will not be acceptable on this site. Glory and my humble self will call it out for what it is. Alexander the great Iwobi is playing well for Nigeria. The people in his club should either use him well or Iwobi should find another home. The truth is that Iwobi has been struggling for quite some time now but as Nigerians, he needs our support. We should not seek to bring him down only to promote mediocrity. God bless Alexander the great.
Dropping to a lower league does not mean your furtunes will change…. Injuries has not been kind to iwobi at times…At the beginning of the season Iwobi had a hamstring issue before kickoff and he couldn’t be involved in Everton’s first few matches…My guy I was really irritated at the response back home…so even suggested his career was over…some said he should go to the championship… Alot if speculation started flying around without even finding out what happened to him… Even Anceloti was supprised at people’s reaction especially back in iwobi’s home land Nigeria that he had to rush Iwobi back into action ahead of time….Leave Iwobi alone let us concentrate on substandard players that keep making our national team and blocking young players from reaching their potential in the national team….let us talk about players that are using national team to search for clubs abroad…let us talk about players playing in very substandard league in Europe but always the first name on the national team list….we have a lot to talk about leave iwobi
People People. Are you guys really this clueless about the logistics of football. Let me remind you not every player has the same stamina levels some suffer more fatigue than others. Rodgers resting Iheanacho had nothing to do with his performances. it was purely tactical as Iheanacho was suffering from having played a game literally 28hrs before against a tough opponent Chelsea.
Hence he brought him on early in the second half of the game because he trusted him to change the game. and Mind you Harvey Barnes will find it a bit harder to get back into the team. as Iheanacho has firmly stamped himself in Brendan Rodgers mind because of his outstanding performances.
Kelechi is at the best club for him at the moment. It only makes sense that he stays in Leicester and competes in Europe next season ( as he is the main reason for their push due to his goals) that way if he does well in Europe then a big club will come calling. all those Suggesting Iheanacho should leave Leicester have proven that when it comes to ball you all are clueless
You’re the one that is clueless and doesn’t know anything about football. Who are you to refer to forumites as being clueless?? Why can’t you make your points and keep moving?? Doesn’t Vardy play 90 minutes in the FA cup final?? How many goals has he scored since January?? Why not bench Vardy or Perez that miss a sitter how I wish that chance falls on Kelechi’s feet? He will bury it with aplomb. You don’t try to fix it when it isn’t broken you dumb skull. As soon as he replaced Iheancho for Maddison in the FA Cup final Chelsea gained momentum if not for VAR the rest is history. Tactical reasons my foot he just doesn’t trust him enough. Unless you want to tell me that Iheanacho is nursing an injury you can’t put him on the bench in such an important game. On current form Kelechi should be the first name on Brendan Rogers first 11. It’s either you accept that or continue to remain clueless.
So Vardy that has been playing almost all games Season in season out for the past 5years at Leicester, a player who has more experience in pacing himself in games than Iheanacho. A player who is the poster boy for Leicester City a player who Iheanacho is learning from. Jamie Vardy still creates a lot and beats the line well. and his stamina is at a higher Level than most players at 25years. Ayoze’s case is different He is a direct replacement for Maddison not Iheanacho so I don’t know where he features in your argument.
Also it is proven that as of present Iheanacho struggles to be a sole No 9 and needs support so If the coach chooses to start with a top nine from the start of the game Vardy will be the choice not Iheanacho as he will break the line of the defence easier than Iheanacho because of his speed. That must have been Rodgers thinking.
Like I said @Ayphillydegreat stop being clueless
Just admit Rogers made a mistake in benching kelechi…even he himself knows it so why are you here trying so hard to justify Rogers mistake?…It’s a known fact that home grown English players are given certain quotas in order to build their game and make their national team stronger….we know all this and we accept it but trying to justify it by bending the truth is like pissing on our face and telling us it’s rain
Thank you AKP. The guy is as clueless as his comments.
He’s the one that has been crying all over the forum about Musa’s invitation to the SuperEagles despite being the captain of the team. But he’s ok with a 34 year old Vardy playing 90 minutes ahead of an inform Iheanacho rather than continue with the partnership in an important match. That singular selection mistake baring any miracle has cost Leicester a top 4 finish.
Ayphilly, according to some people, shooting yourself in the foot by benching your in-form striker has now become “tactical”. Hahahahaha!
A general might as well go to war without his marksmen. Which fatigue? Most, if not all of the other players on the pitch also played the FA cup final. Fatigue no reach those ones? What about Vardy, who has been playing matches week in, week out, for years. At his age, he is still playing.
Nacho is quite capable of handling the demands of professional football. If he was really exhausted, why introduce him in the second half? Why include him in the matchday squad?
Yes, we are all clueless for expressing opinions that are different from yours. Na your way though. No be today.
Nacho in a club that truly values him will evolve to the next level. This treatment he is getting under Rodgers at Leicester is doing damage to his confidence and hindering his development.
Rodgers should know by now that the Vardy-Nacho partnership is critical to Leicester’s success for now. If he decides to accommodate English talent in his squad at the expense of this important strike partnership, in a critical game they needed a result in to qualify for UCL next season, then it appears something is wrong with his priorities.