Newcastle Are Almost Safe As Benitez Wins The Tactical Battle Of The Ex-Liverpool Bosses! First King Power Defeat For Rodgers. Match Highlights. Player Ratings. Manager Comments And Stats.
By: Marc Gingell
Match Details
| 12/4/2019 | King Power Stadium | Leicester City | 0-1 | Newcastle United |
| KO:20:00 | ATT: 32,108 | Ayoze Pérez 32′ | ||
First Home Defeat
Rafa Benitez came out on top as two ex-Liverpool bosses faced off at the King Power Stadium with Benitez sending Brendan Rodgers home with the first taste of a home Leicester defeat in the Premier League. Now Rodgers honeymoon period, which seemed to be dragging on a bit, is over.
Ayoze Perez Causing Leicester Problems
On 14 minutes Leicester captain Wes Morgan fouled Ayoze Perez about 35 yards from goal. Salomon Rondon took control and executed the almost perfect freekick. He curled a stunning effort that crashed against the angle of Kasper Schmeichel’s right post and bar. But it didn’t take much longer for Perez break the deadlock.
After 32 minutes Matt Ritchie crossed from the left and Perez ghosted into the near post where he glanced a header past Schmeichel from six yards. The perfect start for Benitez.
Jamie Vardy Fires Over
1-0 up, away from home, meant the perfect opportunity for Benitez to execute a perfect smash and grab away day victory and Leicester hardly had a sniff at goal. When they did, after 80 minutes when Jamie Vardy beat the offside trap, he lifted his shot well over the bar.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FII2_l3_8kA
Player Ratings
Leicester: Schmeichel (5), Pereira (5), Morgan (5), Maguire (5), Chilwell (5), Tielemans (5), Ndidi (5), Gray (5), Maddison (5), Barnes (5), Vardy (4)
Subs: Mendy (5), Iheanacho (5), Albrighton (5)
Newcastle: Dubravka (7), Manquillo (7), Lascelles (8), Schar (8), Dummett (7), Ritchie (8), Ki (7), Hayden (7), Almiron (7), Perez (8), Rondon (7)
Subs: Atsu (5), Diame (5)
Man of the Match: Ayoze Perez
Brendan Rodgers Comments
“It was interesting to watch the team because it is the first time I have really seen us in this type of game where we have to break them down, and I think it’s an area where the team has struggled but hopefully in time we will get better at that. There are lots of things for us to work on and analyse and we will be better for it.”
Rafa Benitez Comments
“It was massive for the team. You have to give credit to the players because we are working so hard. We were playing against a good team, with ability. We needed to do almost everything perfect and we were very close. We had two or three counter-attacks we could have done better but with this commitment from the players and from the fans it’s easier.”
Opta Stats
- Newcastle have won back-to-back league visits to Leicester in the top-flight for the first time since September 1959 under manager Charlie Mitten.
- This was Leicester City’s eighth home league defeat of the campaign, their most in a Premier League season at the King Power Stadium since it opened in 2002. Only in 1994-95 (10) and 2001-02 (9) have they lost more home Premier League games in a single season.
- Newcastle have now picked up 16 points away from home in the Premier League this season (P17 W3 D7 L7), as many as they earned in the whole of the 2017-18 campaign on the road.
- Leicester City completed 649 passes in this match, their highest total in a Premier League game since 2003-04 (when Opta began recording this data); indeed, three of their four highest successful pass tallies in this time in the division have been recorded in their six fixtures under Brendan Rodgers.
- Ayoze Pérez has been directly involved in four of Newcastle’s last six league goals (three goals, one assist), scoring three of their last five.
- Ayoze Pérez’s opener for Newcastle was his seventh Premier League goal of the season, but the first to come away from home.
- Since his debut for Newcastle at the start of the 2016-17 Championship season, Matt Ritchie has assisted 17 league goals for the club, at least four more than any other player in that time
If you have any questions or comments please follow the links below. And, if you would like to like or share, that would be appreciated. Thank you.
