Sixth win in six leaves Foxes top of the league
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| Leicester City are now undefeated in seven league games |
Leicester City maintained their
position at the top of the Championship with a narrow 1-0 win over Brighton at
the King Power Stadium.
In front of a home crowd of over
25,000, Andy King scored the only goal of the game ten minutes into the
first-half after his initial shot was blocked inside the penalty area by Gordon
Greer.
The visitors were awarded a
second-half penalty when Zak Whitbread was adjudged to have brought down Will
Buckley inside the area, but Ashley Barnes’ spot kick was well-saved by Foxes’
goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel.
Barnes might have rescued a point
for Brighton in stoppage time, but was unable to hit the target from the edge
of the penalty area with plenty of time to settle his position before shooting.
It was Leicester’s sixth
consecutive league win at the King Power Stadium, and seventh game unbeaten –
an excellent run of form which has given the Foxes top spot in the Championship
with one-quarter of the season played.
Nigel Pearson named an unchanged
starting eleven from Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Birmingham, and although Leicester
began the first-half more tentatively than usual, they were ahead after just
ten minutes after some excellent work by David Nugent on the left wing allowed
him to break into the Brighton area and lay the ball off to Andy King, and
although the midfielder’s shot was initially blocked, he made no mistake in
finding the back of the net with the follow-up.
The early advantage seemed to
trouble Brighton - especially defensively, as Gus Poyet’s side began misplacing
passes under continual pressure from Leicester’s forward players.
Ritchie De Laet then broke into
the Brighton penalty area and played a clever ball across goal to Andy King,
but the Welshman was unable to add to his earlier goal, seeing his effort go
way over the bar.
At the other end, Liam Bridcutt
kept Kasper Schmeichel on his toes with a looping free-kick to the back post,
forcing the Danish shot-stopper to tip the ball wide for a corner.
The ever-dangerous Anthony
Knockaert then tested Tomasz Kuszczak with a shot from 20 yards, but the former
Manchester United goalkeeper was equal to it.
Brighton began to increase tempo
towards the end of the half, and could have been level when Craig Mackail-Smith
latched on to Ritchie De Laet’s poor backpass, but Kasper Schmeichel was alert
to make an important stop.
Mackail-Smith continued to try
and cause the Foxes’ backline problems after the break with his pace and persistence,
but in actual fact, Foxes captain Wes Morgan and Zak Whitbread were able to
marshal the threat of Mackail-Smith for the majority of the game.
David Nugent then stung the palms
of Tomasz Kuszczak with a powerful curling strike from the edge of the penalty
area, but Brighton were given a glorious opportunity to draw level moments
later when Zak Whitbread was adjudged to have upended Will Buckley inside the
Leicester penalty area.
Ashley Barnes stepped up to take
the spot-kick, but could not beat Kasper Schmeichel who guessed correctly – and
although the rebound fell into the path of Barnes, the follow-up shot flew high
over the crossbar, much to the relief of the Leicester fans.
Brighton seemed to lose momentum
after the missed penalty, and Leicester could have doubled their advantage when
Martyn Waghorn picked out Lloyd Dyer with a good cross into the Brighton
eighteen-yard box, but the connecting header sailed wide of the left-hand post.
Paul Konchesky then had a shot
beaten away by Tomasz Kuszczak, before substitute Jamie Vardy headed wide from
inside the penalty area as the Foxes looked to tighten their grip on their
opponents.
Andy King fired a shot across
goal after Anthony Knockaert had done well to pick him out from the right-hand
side, but dragged the ball inches wide of the Brighton goal.
For all of Leicester’s chances to
put the game to bed, Ashley Barnes had a late chance to salvage a point for the
visitors, but was unable to hit the target from the edge of the area despite
having time and space to compose himself.
The final whistle blew, giving
Leicester a narrow but deserved victory – one that keeps them top of the
Championship for at least another few days.
Man of the Match – Wes Morgan
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