Leicester City v Nottingham Forest: Premier League – live | Premier League
Key events
Vardy ran down the left, onto a long pass, and then fed it back to Barnes on the edge of the area. He moved Williams one way and then the other before flashing a curling shot into the far corner. Henderson had no chance.
GOAL! Leicester 2-0 Nottm Forest (Barnes 27)
The second best player on the pitch makes it 2-0 with a brilliant goal!
It took a big deflection, but Maddison won’t care. A dreadful clearance from Lingard went straight to Maddison on the edge of the D. He opened his body to curl a shot that hit McKenna and wrongfooted Henderson. After seeing a replay I’m not 100 per cent sure Maddison’s shot was on target, so it may yet go down as an own goal.
GOAL! Leicester 1-0 Nottm Forest (Maddison 25)
The best player on the pitch gives Leicester the lead!
22 min: Awoniyi hits the post! Out of nothing, Forest almost take the lead. Lingard played a good pass through the lines to Gibbs-White, who stabbed an even better one past Faes to put Awoniyi through on goal. He sidefooted the ball past Ward and it hit the base of the left-hand post.
20 min Good game, this.
19 min A fast, flat free-kick from Maddison just evades Vardy on the six-yard line. At the other end, Gibbs-White’s through ball is poked wide by Johnson, who was put off by the outrushing Ward. I think Johnson was offside anyway.
17 min Williams is booked for handball. He’s a bit unfortunate, although he probably should have been booked earlier. IT ALL EVENS ITSELF OUT OVER THE COURSE OF A SEASON.
16 min Leicester’s schemers, Barnes and Maddison, look really bright.
15 min Another chance for Vardy, who shoots straight at Henderson after being put through superbly by Barnes. The angle was fairly tight, to the left of the area, and he couldn’t shape the ball towards the far corner.
14 min Maddison drops the resulting free-kick onto the head of Vardy, who heads wide of the near post from 12 yards. It wasn’t the eaiest chance, as the ball was slightly behind him when he made contact.
13 min Williams is fortunate to avoid a yellow card after chopping down Barnes. Leicester are starting to take control of the game.
12 min The lively Maddison finds Dewsbury-Hall in a bit of space, 25 yards from goal. He pushes the ball forward and thrashes a rising drive that goes a few yards wide of the far post. It looked closer than it was.
11 min Nowt comes of the corner.
10 min Justin’s shot from the edge of the area takes a deflection and loops overthe bar. It’s been an open start to the game, which isn’t always the case when the bottom two play each other. I suppose the main problem for both teams this season has been defence rather than attack.
8 min Ndidi is penalised, probably a little harshly, for a challenge on Johnson just outside the area on the right. Lodi smashes the free-kick into the crowd and Vardy heads behind for a corner.
6 min This is the revised Forest formation: Henderson; Williams, Cook, McKenna, Lodi; Kouyate, O’Brien; Johnson, Gibbs-White, Lingard; Awoniyi.
5 min: Chance for Leicester! Lovely play from Maddison, who sits Lodi down on the right side of the area and teases a deep cross that is headed just wide by Dewsbury-Hall. He should have scored.
3 min “A proposal,” says Kevin Gier. “Every game involving Forest vs another Midlands team has to be introduced with the old ATV Star Soccer theme. It just fits with Forest.”
2 min Johnson wins an early corner for Forest on the right. Gibbs-White’s outswinger is headed away to O’Brien, 20 yards out. He drives a shot that hits Evans and goes behind for another corner.
1 min Forest have indeed switched to 4-2-3-1, with Kouyate and O’Brien in midfield.
1 min Peep peep! Leicester kick off from left to right as we watch.
The players are ready for action, and there’s a cracking atmosphere at the King Power Stadium. These teams don’t love one another.
Previously on…
“Another loss here for the Foxes and surely its time for Dyche,” says Gary Kennedy.
I love Dyche but is he the right fit for this group of players?
“Leicester have several problems,” says Jonathan Tasker. “But the biggest may be the loss of Kasper Schmeichel. Danny Ward is nowhere near good enough.”
They really miss his leadership too.
Team news
Jamie Vardy replaces Patson Daka up front for Leicester, the only change from the 6-2 defeat at Spurs before the international break.
Steve Cooper makes three changes from the team that lost at home to Fulham. Cheikhou Kouyate, Jesse Lingard and Lewis O’Brien replace Willy Boly, Remo Freuler and Ryan Yates. That might mean a switch to a back four; we’ll find out at kick-off.
Leicester City (4-1-4-1) Ward; Castagne, Evans, Faes, Justin; Ndidi; Maddison, Tielemans, Dewsbury-Hall, Barnes; Vardy.
Substitutes: Iversen, Amartey, Thomas, Soumare, Albrighton, Praet, Perez, Iheanacho, Daka.
Nottingham Forest (possible 3-3-2-2) Henderson; Kouyate, Cook, McKenna; Williams, O’Brien, Lodi; Gibbs-White, Lingard; Johnson, Awoniyi.
Substitutes: Hennessey, Aurier, Boly, Worrall, Yates, Mangala, Freuler, Dennis, Surridge.
Preamble
Hello and welcome to live, minute-by-minute coverage of the P45 derby at the King Power Stadium. It’s an unkind description of tonight’s match between Leicester City and Nottingham Forest, but we can’t ignore the persistent speculation that either Brendan Rodgers or Steve Cooper will be sacked if their team loses tonight.
Leicester are bottom of the league and on a run of six straight defeats; Forest are second bottom and have lost the last four. Let’s accentuate the positive: at least one of them will end their losing run tonight.
Kick off 8pm.