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Foxy Figures: It’s good to be home

Foxes bag first points of the season at the King Power Stadium

Leicester City v Brighton and Hove Albion - Premier League Photo by Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images

There’s no place like home! The Foxes faithful were treated to a three point delight as the boys secured their first win of the season at home against Brighton. Leicester showed much of the same on attack as the had the week before, and the defense tightened things up at the back earning the first clean sheet as well.

The Goals

One minute is all it took Shinji Okazaki to make it two goals in two matches. A rejuvenated Riyad Mahrez had his shot saved by Mat Ryan, but spilled the rebound into an oncoming Okazaki to tap it into the net.

Leicester City v Brighton and Hove Albion - Premier League
Shinji Okazaki celebrates his opening goal
Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images

Harry Maguire continued his fantastic start to the season by scoring his first goal for the club. Of the five goals and four assists the team has this season, Maguire’s responsible for over twenty percent of the offense. Riyad Mahrez delivered the corner that Harry nodded home which means Leicester have scored three goals from corner kicks so far this season.

Leicester City v Brighton and Hove Albion - Premier League
Maguire makes it 2-0
Photo by Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images

The Midfield

We are now two weeks in with our new midfield duo, so let’s take a look at how they’ve faired up to this point. With both Wilfred Ndidi and Matty James already fielding over 170 minutes of play together, their season long success, or failure, could make a huge difference in where Leicester end up in the table come May.

The first main stat that separates the two is their average pass accuracy. Matty James boasts an average of 79%. Wilfred Ndidi manages only a 64% average. While James clearly has the better percentage, it should be noted Ndidi’s passes are an average 17 meters to Matty’s 14 meters. The majority of Ndidi’s missed passes are actually headers missing their mark. He’s missed 12/14 which makes this something he surely needs to work on.

Pass comparison of Matty James and Wilfred Ndidi from left to right

The second stat that really sticks out is their average duels won. Each duel is broken down into four categories. They are tackles, fouls, take ons and headed duels. Wilfred Ndidi reigns in this category with an average of 50%, while Matty James is only at an average of 31%. For me, the most important stat in this category is tackles, which Ndidi tops James at by winning 38% to 33%. As mentioned earlier, Ndidi’s heading game is as much of a part in his passing game as it his defensive game. He’s won 83% of his headed duels, or 5/6. Matty James is 1/1 at 100%.

Average duel comparison of Matty James and Wilfred Ndidi from left to right

Matt’s Favorite Stat

Five. Five is the number of goals Leicester have scored so far this season. It took the Foxes five games last season to cross that threshold. Leicester face Manchester United on Saturday who’ve scored eight and allowed none, which will make it all the sweeter if Leicester can take all three points from Old Trafford.