Nigeria’s two players at Leicester City of England had varying degrees of impact in Tuesday’s English Premier League fixture against Brighton & Hove Albion, as Wilfred Onyinyen Ndidi came close to scoring but Kelechi Iheanacho struggled for from in the encounter that ended goalless at their home ground, King Power Stadium.
Megasportsarena.com reports that, while they were both on from the start in a 4-3-3 formation outlined by their coach, Brendan Rodgers, Ndidi had a shot blocked by the opposing goalkeeper but also got a 34th minute yellow card, after which Iheanacho was replaced by Harvey Barnes in the 69th minute as the hosts had to settle for a barren outing with their less-fancied visitors.
The result means Ndidi, Iheanacho and their teammates took a dent in their hunt for a UEFA Champions League ticket, even as they had their shot-stopper, Kasper Schmeichel to thank for saving a first-half penalty; and Rodgers’ side have now won only two of their last 10 games.
Even as they remain in contention to seal a top-four finish in the EPL, they narrowly escaped what could have been a fifth defeat, had it not been for Schmeichel, as the Denmark national team star smothered Neal Maupay’s penalty after 14 minutes.
Maupay’s miss left Brighton thinking about what might have been, as three points would have given them significant breathing space in the battle for survival, even after their hosts lacked a cutting edge throughout and are now looking over their shoulders at fourth-placed Chelsea – who visit them in the English FA Cup quarter-finals this weekend.
Leicester will have to put up a better show than they had on Tuesday, as they offered little in the first half, with Jamie Vardy and Iheanacho largely anonymous and starved of service, they could have taken the lead in injury time, but Caglar Soyuncu got his header from close range all wrong after a Ndidi shot looped towards him at the far post.
Though Brighton had an early setback, when they were forced to make a change at centre-half, with Shane Duffy replacing injured Adam Webster, The Seagulls threatened through Connolly midway through the first half when he broke through the heart of the Leicester defence, but his effort was deflected wide by Soyuncu.
James Maddison, who was regularly lethal with free-kicks just outside the penalty area, put the ball in the empty stands with 10 minutes left and Leicester felt they should have had a penalty in injury time when his cross struck Lewis Dunk on the arm, but the match referee overlooked it.
Ndidi, Iheanacho and their pals have now won only two of their last 10 games, even as they look to seal a top-four finish in the EPL, but Rodgers said he was satisfied, despite his team not being able to break down the visitors from Brighton, as the gaffer said he was pleased with elements of his players’ all-round performance.
Rodgers told Sky Sports: “I didn’t think we were very good in the first half. We got into some good positions, but didn’t have very good movement off the ball. Kasper made a good stop from the penalty.
“I thought second half we were much better. It felt like it was coming, but we didn’t quite make the final pass. A clean sheet, fitness was good and subs tried to make an impact and we didn’t concede so we’ll take a point.
“We haven’t won the games, but we’ve showed a good mentality to not concede so much and hopefully after more training we can find the goals to get back to winning.”
Chimaobi Victor@chimas2010