Everton vs Leicester match report: Foxes top at Christmas after another brilliant win
Everton 2 Leicester City 3
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Your support makes all the difference.“I wish it could be Christmas every day” goes the song and for Leicester City supporters right now it really is. Their team’s first victory at Goodison Park since December 1985 moved them five points clear at the summit and ensured that a team bottom of the Premier League table on Christmas Day last year, will sit top of it 12 months later.
This was Leicester’s seventh win in a 10-match unbeaten run which has made anything seem possible for Claudio Ranieri’s side. It was far from their best display of the campaign yet the best teams find a way to win and Leicester did just that as they exploited ruthlessly Everton’s soft centre, winning through two Riyad Mahrez penalties and a Shinji Okazaki strike.
That they did so without the injured Danny Drinkwater and suspended Robert Huth was further evidence that they could be here for the long haul even if Ranieri prefers to play down their prospects. “If it is the end of April and we are still there I will think about the title,” said the Italian. “Right now I will just enjoy it.”
Everton had the better of the first half yet fell behind after 27 minutes after Okazaki got in front of Funes Mori, chasing a flick-on, and went to ground as the Argentinian tangled with him. Tim Howard dived the right way but was beaten by the accuracy of Mahrez’s kick.
Everton should have led at that point but Ross Barkley had miscued a close-range volley from Romelu Lukaku’s cross. Instead Lukaku found the net with a swift equaliser and in the process became the first Everton player since Dave Hickson in 1954 to score in eight successive games.
Barkley looked poised to score when Lukaku and Tom Cleverley worked the ball to him at the back post but Kasper Schmeichel and then Andy King blocked his shots and Lukaku pounced on the loose ball and swept it home.
Everton have now won just two of were not helped yesterday by a moody display by Gerard Deulofeu. He was a windmill of angry arms after a couple of hard but fair challenges in the first half and disappeared from the contest.
Leicester, by contrast, grew into it. “Today was a difficult match,” added Ranieri. “Everton are a very good team, who move the ball so quickly, and we were very concentrated on not leaving them too much space. In the first half we didn’t react well when we got the ball but the second half was much better.”
Jamie Vardy had been a subdued figure but came to life to win the penalty for Leicester’s second goal. Latching on to a fine Mahrez ball behind Everton’s centre-backs he left behind a trailing leg as Howard flew out and Leicester had another spot-kick, tucked way once more by Mahrez for his 14th goal of the season.
There was a touch of fortune about the third goal as Marc Albrighton blocked Seamus Coleman’s attempted clearance with his hand and the ball deflected to Vardy who released Okazaki to fire low past Howard. “The disappointment is to concede such soft goals, two of them from throw-ins, and that is the difference between winning a game and not,” said Everton manager Roberto Martinez. “Scoring two goals at home should be enough.” With this Everton team, though, it isn’t and substitute Kevin Mirallas’s late, low drilled finish counted for nothing.
Everton (4-2-3-1): Howard; Coleman, Stones, Funes Mori, Baines; Cleverley, Barry; Deulofeu (Lennon, 74), Barkley, Koné (Mirallas, 74); Lukaku.
Leicester City (4-4-2): Schmeichel; Simpson, Wasilewski, Morgan, Fuchs; Mahrez (De Laet, 83), Kanté, King, Albrighton (Dyer, 71); Okazaki, Vardy (Ulloa, 87).
Referee: Jonathan Moss
Man of the match: Mahrez (Leicester)
Match rating: 7/10
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