Tuesday, 29 October 2013

Fighting Foxes Fend Off Fulham

Leicester City 4 - 3 Fulham

Leicester produced an outstanding display to beat Premiership side Fulham in a pulsating League Cup tie at the King Power Stadium this evening. The result - Leicester's eighth successive home win in all competitions - puts them into the Quarter Final of the competition. The Foxes are the only side remaining in the competition from outside the Premier League. Nigel Pearson made five changes to his starting line-up, bringing in Wood, Schlupp, Hammond, James and Miquel. He also changed to a 4-2-3-1 formation. It would be fair to say that it took City a while to get to grips with the change in shape and personnel. Fulham took advantage of Leicester's slow start, Rodallega putting the visitors ahead in the 18th minute. 

City responded well and two goals before half-time put Leicester in charge of the game. First, a thunderous Knockaert free-kick rebounded off the goalkeeper. Wes Morgan was the first to react and steered a header into the bottom corner. A few minutes later, a casual clearance from Senderos rebounded off Konchesky and fell into Wood's path. He calmly slotted the ball home to give Leicester the lead at the break. Less than 10 minutes into the second half, City were 3-1 up when Ignasi Miquel headed home an excellent cross from Drinkwater. 

City should have won the game comfortably from this point. However, a lapse in concentration allowed Roadellaga to pull a goal back for Fulham almost immediately after the re-start. This gave Fulham momentum and it seemed likely that they would equalise, despite some excellent opportunities for Dyer and Schlupp to extend the Foxes' lead. Indeed, Fulham's equaliser came just 3 minutes before full-time, Karagounis thundering a superb free-kick into the top corner. The match seemed destined for extra time when substitute Nugent broke clear and slid a perfect cross into Dyer's path. The winger made no mistake to give Leicester the most dramatic of winners in the 89th minute. Leicester survived 6 minutes of injury time to record a famous victory.

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