Premier League Player Ratings: Leicester City 2-0 Everton

There’s no escaping that Southampton were boring under Claude Puel last year; they scored less goals than Tony Pulis’ West Brom. It is worth noting, however, that his best attacking options last year were Nathan Redmond, a slightly broken Charlie Austin and a regularly broken Jay Rodriguez.

Based on his first 90 minutes with Vardy, Mahrez and Gray, a comfortable 2-0 win over Everton, Puel is indeed capable of creating some very exciting football.

Kasper Schmeichel - 7

The Toffees had 60% possession and 15 shots in the end, so you might think Kasper was worked hard, but he just had two fairly regulation saves to make.

Danny Simpson - 8

It’s not pretty, but Simpson is so reliably competent at the back. This time he was able to couple his typical solidity with some key far post clearances.

Wes Morgan - 8

Big Wes is 4th in the league in shots blocked, and honestly I was amazed there were three players above him. The captain was a huge presence at the back, and Everton could not get the ball around him.

Harry Maguire - 7

Maybe a one-game coincidence, but was on the ball a lot less under the new manager. Still a very strong defensive performance.

Christian Fuchs - 7

Struggled against Aaron Lennon’s pace and must have been extremely glad to see him come off at half time, but he bounced back well after. Led the team in touches, which is never ideal, but he copes well.

Demarai Gray - 9

Nominally on the right, the young winger picked up that Mahrez knack of seemingly playing left, right and centre all at once. Comfortably the most dangerous looking player on the pitch and, unlike previously, he was able to turn it into goals. He even worked hard and defended well.

Wilfred Ndidi - 9

More tackles than any other player, more interceptions than any other player, second on the team in touches, strong in the air and even had a key pass. Not bad.

Vicente Iborra - 6

At half time, he was the leader in touches and was passing at over 90%. In the second half, when the team really needed that, he disappeared and finished nowhere near either.

Ben Chilwell - 7

Wins this week’s Albrighton Medal for a strong defensive performance, while struggling to make an attacking impact.

He’s [Puel] seen how we can break so quickly so he’s really tried to drum that into us. The first goal was a great example of that - the manager thinks we should play counter attack, fancy that

Riyad Mahrez - 8

As well as we’ve seen him play, centrally. Often he’s struggled there, but he looked at home and linked up well the talent around him.

Jamie Vardy - 8

He works so hard, puts constant pressure on defenders and makes those around him look better, but let’s not forget that he’s the best goal scorer we’ve had for a long time.

Shinji Okazaki - 5

My only complaint was how long it took to make this change, but he really struggled to make any impact on the game.

Marc Albrighton - 6

Worked hard as the team decided to surrender the ball for the last ten minutes.

Kelechi Iheanacho - n/a

The game was over already.

I’m trying to think of the game as a whole, but honestly all that comes to mind is that first goal. So fast, so clinical, so typically Leicester City. Demarai Gray did the hard work, so he’s the Man of the Match.