Leicester City of England duo, Wilfred Onyinyen Ndidi and Ademola Lookman both had their efforts on goal overruled on Sunday, as The Foxes fell in defeat away to Brighton & Hove Albion, while Joe Aribo and Leon Aderemi Balogun settled for a draw in Scotland.
Balogun was benched for the duration and Aribo had an assist in Glasgow Rangers’ 1-1 draw with Motherwell, while Ndidi and Lookman both had their efforts ruled out, as Leicester fell 2-1 to Brighton in the English Premier League.
Kelechi Iheanacho got off the visitors’ bench in the second half, but could not prevent the result that saw Brighton move up to fourth on the EPL’s log, after Neal Maupay’s disputed penalty and Danny Welbeck’s header sealed victory over Leicester in an incident-packed encounter.
Maupay’s 35th-minute spot-kick was controversially awarded with Jannik Vestergaard punished for handball yet seemingly held back by the Seagulls striker, but Welbeck’s second-half header (50) was legitimate reward for their dominance.
Jamie Vardy finished a slick move on his 250th Premier League appearance to give the visitors a lifeline but, having wasted a two-goal lead in the Europa League in midweek, The Foxes were left to rue further decisions as a comeback of their own was lost at a sodden Amex Stadium.
Lookman was denied after a VAR check in the 67th minute, with Harvey Barnes ruled offside, and Barnes was dubiously deemed culpable of another infringement when Ndidi nodded past Robert Sanchez with just five minutes remaining.
Leicester’s coach, Brendan Rodgers declared Brighton’s opener was never a penalty and felt Ndidi’s header should have stood, while The Seagull’s gaffer, Graham Potter admitted his team had enjoyed a little bit of luck.
Potter’s side sit just a point off the summit and extend their best start to a top-flight season with four wins from five, while Leicester, who toiled until Lookman’s second-half introduction, are 12th with just two wins from their opening fixtures.
Same evening, this time in the Scottish Premiership, effort on goal was blocked late on, as Motherwell became the first team to take league points off Rangers at Ibrox since March 2020 to spoil the hosts’ party with a 1-1 draw.
The Gers’ fans cheered the unfurling of the Premiership flag for the first time in a decade before the game and it looked like being an afternoon of celebration when Fashion Sakala headed in his first competitive goal for the Light Blues after 12 minutes.
However, after the home side failed to capitalise on their dominance, Well attacker Kaiyne Woolery stunned Ibrox in the 66th minute when he fired in an equaliser.
Aribo, Balogun and their teammates had to settle for the draw which moves them to the top of the table by a single point ahead of Hibernian and Hearts.
Motherwell themselves would have gone top of the table with a win but Graham Alexander’s side will be more than happy with their point.
Liam Kelly saved a long-range drive from Sakala but, from the resulting corner, the Zambia international headed in from under the crossbar after Joe Aribo had headed on skipper James Tavernier’s delivery.
Rangers bossed the second half as they had the first and Kelly continued to rack up saves, the one on the hour mark from Tavernier’s drive following a short corner was pretty spectacular before the shock equaliser.
The Gers’ coach, Steven Gerrard lamented afterwards, saying: “It’s two points dropped, there’s no getting away from that.
“We’ve only got ourselves to blame. When you don’t get the second goal you lose that control and you’ve always got that chance to be vulnerable at the back.”
