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Premier League Player Ratings: Leicester City 1-2 Chelsea

Much better than the last game

Leicester City v Chelsea - Premier League Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images

The difference between this performance and the hiding-in-our-shell style displayed against Manchester United was night and day. Chelsea were still the better team over 90 minutes and deserved their win, but Leicester City at least looked like they had a chance this time.

Right from the start the change was clear. The forwards were getting right after the Chelsea defenders, trying to stop them passing it out from the back. it didn't work perfectly, but it did help, and Courtois was forced into a few hurried clearances.

Kasper Schmeichel - 6

When was the last time we conceded and you thought “Kasper could’ve saved that one”? Of course, he also saved a couple of others that many keepers wouldn't have had a chance with.

Danny Simpson - 5

Struggled to contain Marcus Alonso down the Chelsea left, who created a few good chances and came close himself once too.

Wes Morgan - 7

His best game of the season so far, I thought. It was the Morgan of old, throwing himself in front of shots, winning his aerial battles and getting the ball cleared again and again. Was beaten for the goal, but Morata is pretty good, you know.

Harry Maguire - 7

Was caught in possession a couple of times to launch dangerous Chelsea attacks, but at this point you have to encourage it. His passing might be better than either central midfielder.

Christian Fuchs - 7

Certainly kept Moses quieter than Alonso, and he was also regularly involved at the other end of the pitch. When the game broke down in the last few minutes, Fuchs was one of the few still going end to end.

Riyad Mahrez - 5

You can see why teams were hesitant to drop £50m. Some days he just doesn't quite have it creatively and he doesn't bring much else.

I decided to change it at half-time really to try and get our dribblers, Demarai Gray and Riyad Mahrez, on the ball to try and cause their back three or back five a problem - Shakespeare told LCFC.com that he tried to get the Algerian more involved

Wilfred Ndidi - 6

A tough day against Kanté and Bakayoko, but I thought he did pretty well. Led the game for tackles.

Matty James - 6

I feel like I’m just repeating myself every week. Everything he did was pretty good, but there just wasn't enough of it.

Marc Albrighton - 5

Some were surprised to see him come off, but it wasn't working in the first half and Albrighton was barely involved when we had the ball.

Islam Slimani - 6

I don’t get it. When Chelsea had the ball, Vardy and Slimani hunted them as a pack, working so well together to try to contain three defenders and the keeper by themselves. They looked completely on the same page. And yet I’m still not sure I’ve ever seen them complete a pass to each other. If you can’t work with Vardy, I’m not sure you can play up front on this team.

Jamie Vardy - 7

Like Slimani, his pressing was great in the first half, but it fell apart when he was up front alone. Kept working hard though and was eventually rewarded with a penalty and a goal.

Andy King - 5

Not unlike James, when he’s involved it was often not that bad. Only Maguire topped his completion percentage, but when you only attempt 14 passes in 45 minutes it doesn't really matter how accurate they are.

Demarai Gray - 6

To me, it looked like the message of “work hard defensively or you won't play” has finally hit home. Unfortunately, it looked like he was trying a little too hard there and was afraid to take risks. With one striker on the pitch he needed to be playing higher. It didn't help than Kanté appeared to be following him.

Kelechi Iheanacho - 6

He’s still not quite there yet, so you can see why he’s not playing much. He had no preseason, after all. But the fans appreciated the sense of urgency he brought.

It was quite a frustrating game to watch, unfortunately not entirely for footballing reasons, but the play certainly was frustrating at times. The Foxes were very much in the game, but outside of the penalty failed to ever look particularly threatening. Ultimately the Man of the Match would have to be a defender, and for me it was our resurgent captain Wes Morgan.