Assuming Match of the Day is still running by the time their goal of the month competition for March is staged, Chelsea should have three contenders on the shortlist. Brilliant finishes from Ben Chilwell, Kai Havertz and Mateo Kovacic enabled Graham Potter to celebrate a third win in what had been cast as potentially the manager’s final week at the club.
Gary Lineker could be forgiven for wanting to return to the warmth of the BBC studio if this is what watching Leicester live is like. A fifth successive defeat in all competitions means Brendan Rodgers picks up the baton as the Premier League manager most under pressure. Leicester are one point above the relegation places.
This was the first time Chelsea had scored three times in a game since October, and only the third time this season. Even if their improved performance was still far from dominant, two league victories and a safe passage into the quarter-finals of the Champions League presages well for Potter.
“It’s been a really good week [with] three wins,” he said. “I’m delighted for the players and the fans. It was a game in the balance but it was our quality that saw us over the line. It’s been a team performance over the week. It takes a bit of time to develop that but the spirit and togetherness is growing. It’s been a tough period but now we can look forward to a week ahead against Everton.”
It took until the 58th minute before Leicester fans started singing Lineker’s name; perhaps next time he could bring his boots. Goodness knows, they have had little else to cheer lately. And their mood was hardly ameliorated by another former Leicester favourite opening the scoring.
It was after Chilwell’s corner had been headed on towards what seemed like safety by Harry Souttar that Kalidou Koulibaly retrieved the ball out wide, beat his man with a neat turn and crossed long beyond the far post. Chilwell shaped his body perfectly to dispatch a luscious left-foot volley into the bottom near corner.
Rodgers had switched to a back three, leaving out the wingers Harvey Barnes and Tetê, and Leicester matched their moneyed visitors in more than just shape for much of the first half. But, pushing their wing-backs high, it did leave them vulnerable at the back and Havertz sent João Félix clear midway through the period for the on-loan forward to dink a shot over Danny Ward but off the post.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall dispatched a superb left-footed shot against the crossbar before Félix came even closer to extending Chelsea’s lead. A beautiful flowing move ended with Ruben Loftus-Cheek squaring for Félix to sidefoot home but VAR spotted he had gone just too early.
Leicester raised their game after this reprieve and, capitalising on Félix’s cheap concession of possession, Patson Daka cut inside to wallop the ball into the net from the corner of the penalty area.
Just as Leicester were on the verge of taking control, however, with Kepa Arrizabalaga repelling efforts from James Maddison and Kelechi Iheanacho, Chelsea went ahead with another contender for their goal of the season. Enzo Fernández lifted the ball up and over Leicester’s compact defence for Havertz to produce the most sumptuous dab imaginable over Ward’s head.
The second half was nearly as random, though Chelsea’s quality on the break gave them the edge and Conor Gallagher, who replaced Félix at the interval, helped the visitors gain a marginal overload in midfield.
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Gallagher cleared off the line from Souttar and Dewsbury-Hall failed to score when Barnes’s header found him five yards out. Chelsea could have been further ahead by then if Ward had not superbly parried away Havertz’s header. Mykhaylo Mudryk, after one finish was disallowed by VAR, played his part in the clinching goal, heading Havertz’s cross back for Kovacic to take to the air and volley in another superb goal.
Leicester’s misery, compounded when Wout Faes was sent off three minutes from time for a second caution, echoes their start to the season when they gained one point from their opening seven games, before rallying impressively. “One thing we have shown is that we can fight and have a resilience and that’s what is going to be needed for these next 12 games,” Rodgers said.
