Match Report: Queens Park Rangers 1 - 2 Leicester City

Recap

Leicester City overcame a fierce Queens Park Rangers side by a score of 2-1 at Loftus Road on Saturday morning. A first-half strike by Stephy Mavididi gave the Foxes the lead, only to see it cancelled by a late effort by Andre Dozzell for the hosts. Dozzell saw two yellows in the second half and the Foxes took advantage via a fine effort by Harry Winks from twenty-five yards.

This is going to sound strange coming after an away win where City had 80% of the ball, but this was probably the least impressive performance of the season. The Foxes we sloppy and sluggish at times and if Rangers didn’t have this weird tendency to shoot from distance every time they got the ball, the result could easily have gone the other way.

“But,” Pipes rebuts, “it didn’t. So stop being so gloomy, Jake.”

Leicester now have 13 wins from 14 matches. The 39 points keep us top of the table with the Tractor Boys still breathing down our neck, five points behind with a game in hand. We host 3rd placed Leeds United on Friday. On Saturday the 11th, we travel to Yorkshire to face Middlesbrough.

Lineups

Leicester City: Mads Hermansen, Hamza Choudhury, Jannik Vestergaard, Conor Coady, James Justin, Cesare Casadei, Harry Winks, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Abdul Fatawu, Stephy Mavididi, Jamie Vardy (C)

Crystal Palace: Asmir Begovic, Sam Field, Osman Kakay, Kenneth Paal, Reggie Cannon, Andre Dozzell, Jack Colback, Ilias Chair, Albert Adomah, Charlie Kelman, Lydon Dykes

Key Moments and Notes

1’- It’s been a minute or two since we’ve seen Asmir Begovic. The former Chelsea keeper is the very definition of “well-traveled.” There probably aren’t a lot of players who went out on loan to Azerbaijani side Qarabag and Italian giants AC Milan while playing for Bournemouth.

7’- Rangers are squeezing the Leicester left trying to keep Mavididi and Dewsbury-Hall from beating them. Not the worst idea, if I’m being honest.

11’- How has Casadei not scored there? The midfielder wins the corner and then finds himself completely alone eight yards out with a free header. He seems to have been caught by surprise and gets it all wrong, heading well over from close range.

25’- With the start the Foxes have had, we’re getting to see a lot of very determined defences. QPR are pressing and then clogging the middle and they’re doing a good job of it. It’ll be interesting to see how the Foxes try to work their way through. There’s not much else of interest right now.

30’- GOAL! Stephy Mavididi’s effort from the edge of the area takes a fortunate deflection off of Adomah and loops inside the far post. It came at the end of one of the better Leicester moves we’ve seen. Enormous credit goes to Choudhury who kept things alive by somehow stretching his leg to control a loose pass while he was going down and getting it out wide.

Photo by Plumb Images/Leicester City FC via Getty Images

36’- Mavididi gets whistled for offside and QPR take the free kick inside the Leicester half. That’s a head-scratcher as it’s impossible to be offside in your own half, but the referee allows it.

40’- GOAL! Chaos in the Leicester area. Adomah retrieves the ball on the edge of the area and chips the ball into the centre. Dykes’ header beats Hermansen, but Choudhury clears it off the line to the edge of the area. Dozzell is the first to react and he slots home through traffic to level the score.

45+2’- Close! The Foxes win a late corner and Dewsbury-Hall finds Vardy at the near post. It’s the sort of chance he’s glanced home dozens of times, but this time it’s just wide. That’s it for the half.

HALF-TIME: Queens Park Rangers 1 - 1 Leicester City

46’- No changes for the Foxes at the half. We saw 82% of the ball in the first period (yay!), but it was still the sloppiest half we’ve seen from Leicester this year (not yay).

52’- Close! Fatawu gets on the end of a Vestergaard clearance and lashes it first time. Begovic didn’t know much about it, but he was in the right place and parries to safety.

60’- RED CARD! Dozzell gets his money’s worth on that one. Fatawu skins the QPR goalscorer on the edge of area so Dozzell brings him down with an arm around the neck. Fatawu takes exception and shoves the offending defender, who shoves back with considerably more force. The referee gets both of his cards out, puts the red back, talks to the linesman, gets the red out again, and shows a yellow to Fatawu and both a yellow and red to Dozzell.

Photo by Plumb Images/Leicester City FC via Getty Images

63’- Ricardo comes on for Choudhury as the Foxes try to take advantage of the advantage. Also, QPR manager Gareth Ainsworth looks like he’s auditioning for a reboot of The Room.

78’- Kelechi Iheanacho comes on for Casadei. Not the greatest day for the Italian, but he put in a decent shift. A rare two-striker shape from Enzo Maresca.

80’- GOAL! Take a bow, Harry Winks! He receives the ball 25 yards out and curls it over the defence, over the keeper, and just inside the far post. Brilliant strike.

83’- Marc Albrighton and Kasey McAteer are introduced with Vardy and Fatawu coming off. So much for the “two-striker shape”.

90’- SEVEN minutes of time added on. Not what we wanted, but it seems about right.

90+5’- Close! The Foxes move the ball around the QPR area and the ball falls to Ricardo. His shot is bound for the top corner, but Begovic makes a fine save.

FULL-TIME Queens Park Rangers 1 - 2 Leicester City