Report and free highlights with commentary from the Premier League match between Leicester and Chelsea at the King Power Stadium as Ben Chilwell, Kai Havertz and Mateo Kovacic score to earn third consecutive victory; Patson Daka had equalised for hosts, who had Wout Faes sent off late on
Saturday 11 March 2023 21:48, UK
Chelsea completed a perfect week by earning a third consecutive win in an entertaining 3-1 victory at Leicester to further ease the pressure on head coach Graham Potter.
The Blues progressed into the Champions League quarter-finals on Tuesday with a turnaround victory over Dortmund following a much-needed three points against Leeds last weekend.
Their good form continued when Ben Chilwell fired them into an early lead against his former club, but Patson Daka equalised with a wonderful effort from 25 yards which flew into the bottom corner.
However, Chelsea went ahead again in first-half injury-time as Kai Havertz lobbed goalkeeper Danny Ward before Mateo Kovacic wrapped things up with a volley as Leicester fell to a fourth consecutive defeat, with centre-back Wout Faes sent off late on.
Chilwell sparked a chaotic first half with a perfect volley from inside the Leicester area which beat Ward at his near post, and the former Leicester left-back enjoyed celebrating in front of the home supporters, who booed his and Wesley Fofana's every touch.
Leicester should have levelled three minutes later when Daniel Amartey managed to head wide from close range when unmarked from James Maddison's devilish delivery, with Gary Lineker watching on in the stands after being stood down from his Match of the Day duties.
The hosts were soon let off as Joao Felix brought down a floated pass from Havertz and then dinked the ball over Ward, only to see it hit the right post. Two minutes later, Leicester hit the woodwork too through Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall's deflected effort which came back off the crossbar.
Felix thought he had scored Chelsea's second at the end of a lovely move that saw Mykhailo Mudryk play the ball wide to Loftus-Cheek, who delivered a low pass across for the winger to sweep home, but the VAR ruled Felix offside.
Just four minutes later, Leicester equalised when Felix dawdled and was robbed of the ball deep in the Chelsea half with it breaking for Daka, who fired superbly into the bottom right corner from outside the box.
The action continued to come with Kepa Arrizabalaga pushing away efforts from James Maddison and Kelechi Iheanacho before the former's free-kick hit the elbow of Fofana in the area, with the VAR ruling it was not a penalty.
Havertz then received a heavy knock to his midriff from Amartey's high boot which was also dismissed by the VAR but the striker quickly shrugged off the blow to lob Ward with a wonderful finish from Enzo Fernandez's perfect pass.
The first chance of the second half came within 60 seconds, Ward tipping over Fofana's header from Chilwell's corner, but opportunities became few and far between.
Leicester went close to finding another equaliser in the 65th minute as Harry Souttar's close-range effort was turned off the line by substitute Conor Gallagher. The hosts also saw Dewsbury-Hall miss a sitter from inside the six-yard box before Mudryk had what would have been his first Chelsea goal ruled out for offside after slotting past Ward.
But Mudryk played a key role for Chelsea's third, cushioning Havertz's cross for Kovacic to arrive and blast home. Leicester's misery was compounded when Faes lunged in and received a second yellow, leaving Brendan Rodgers' side just one point above the relegation zone.
Chelsea head coach Graham Potter: "It's been a team performance over the week, it takes a bit of time to develop that but the spirit of the boys is developing, it's growing.
"The togetherness I really like, everyone supporting each other, fighting to play and ready to play. I'm delighted for the players, it's been a tough period but this week has been a positive one.
"It's been a really good week, three wins. It started with a determined performance against Leeds, then Dortmund and to back it up today is really impressive from the players because it isn't easy.
"We've had a good week. We were a few centimetres away from a couple of more goals ourselves, they gave everything as well. It was a game in the balance and it was our quality which saw us over the line."
Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers: "If you think about earlier in the season, we had six games and one point. We have shown we can fight and we have a resilience and that's what's going to be needed now.
"One thing we are is very much together. We'll keep fighting and there are still more points to play for. You want your team to be supported at home and the crowd behind them.
"We have to get through that and get the points. The supporters are disappointed we didn't get the result but it doesn't affect me.
"It (defeat) was harsh on the team. When it gets to 3-1 and you are down to 10 men in the last five minutes players of that quality can keep the ball from you, so you come off a bit dejected.
"We fought our way back into the game and we finished the first half really well but then a fraction of just (being) passive and you give players of that quality that space they can use it."
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Chelsea return to Stamford Bridge when relegation-threatened Everton come to London on Saturday March 18, live on Sky Sports.
Leicester will aim to ease their bottom three worries when they travel to Brentford next Saturday with kick-off at 3pm.
