Chelsea consolidated third place. Enzo Fernández scored a goal and an assist to help Chelsea win at Leicester

The Premier League returned after the national break for round 12. On Saturday afternoon, it started with a duel between Chelsea, the third team in the table, and Leicester, a returnee to the top English competition, whose performances so far have been enough to finish 15th. The team led by Enzo Maresca did not falter and secured their position in the top three with a well-deserved win.

• Chelsea sent Jackson into the lead
• In the second half, Fernández added a goal to his assist from the first
• In the end, Leicester’s Ayew converted a penalty to make it 1: 2

The home game at the King Power Stadium for more than 32,000 spectators did not start positively for the Foxes. After only ten minutes of play, midfielder Harry Winks had to withdraw from the game with a muscle injury and was replaced by Oliver Skipp.

Nicolas Jackson spoiled the mood in Leicester even more five minutes later. Thanks to Fernandez’s assist and a lack of pressure from the opposition defence, he got a finish in the whitewash which beat goalkeeper Mads Hermansen.

Moreover, in the 22nd minute, Wilfred Ndidi, after clearly stepping on Palmer’s ankle, could not have been too surprised to see a red card for his foul. In the end, however, head referee Andrew Madley only showed him a yellow.

Chelsea’s dominance of the game continued, forcing more fouls on the unchallenged opposition defence. Boubakary Soumaré and the incoming Skipp did not escape a carding around the 30th minute. Moments later, the referees, in conjunction with VAR, disallowed Noni Madueke’s goal for offside.

Five minutes before the break, a London player, namely Moises Caicedo, also received a yellow card. The end of the half was not a good one for the visitors overall, as they allowed McAteer and Ndidi to get interesting shooting opportunities. And because Madueke did not convert a chance from a fast break on the other side, the score was 0:1 at half time.

The Blues continued to be the better team after the break. In the 54th minute, Palmer missed a great opportunity to score from a cross in the small area, partly because he hit the leg of a dodging Madueke.

It took the Londoners a long time to add another, consolation goal. In the 75th minute, however, they did. Jackson’s close-range header was reflexively met by the goalkeeper, but the ball was deflected to a free Enzo Fernandez, who calmly cleared the ball into the net.

In the final ten minutes, the home side demanded a penalty kick after Fofana’s tackle on Mavididi, but it was probably not taken properly. In general, however, the second half was not a clean game either. Leicester’s Wout Faes was yellow-carded for fouling, as were his coach Steven Cooper and Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sánchez earlier for protesting.

In stoppage time, Lavia fouled Decordova-Reid and the Foxes got a penalty after all. Jordan Ayew converted it, denying Sánchez the chance to reach a fine zero. However, the reduction to 1:2 came too late, the favourite taking the three points back to the English capital.

Chelsea are still in third place with 22 points, three more than Arsenal, Nottingham and Brighton, who are still to play in the 12th round. Ten-point Leicester, in provisional 16th place, remain in danger of falling into the relegation places.

Source: Premier League, Canal+ Sport