By Callum Faulds
Kelechi Iheanacho’s stoppage time winner given by VAR saw Leicester scrape three points against Everton this afternoon.
Today offered Leicester the chance to break away even further from Manchester City after the champions’ shock draw with Newcastle United, and it was a chance they had to battle for.
Brendan Rodgers named an unchanged 11 for the sixth consecutive game and Leicester went into the match as stand out favourites.
Leicester dominated the first half but were undone in the 23rd minute by a well worked play from Everton. Djibril Sidibe put an easy cross into the box which saw Dominic Calvert-Lewin draw away a struggling Caglar Soyuncu, leaving Richarlison free to head it home.
Ten minutes following the goal, it looked as though Leicester had a penalty but after a look at VAR, the referee decided not to give it, a controversial decision. Mason Holgate had a big swing at the leg of Ben Chilwell, who went to ground. VAR seemed to show that there was no contact. So it was overturned.
Although Leicester continued to have the lion’s share of possession, Everton started the second half strongly but failed to create a good scoring chance on the break.
For a long time, Everton looked more likely to grab the next goal as they continued to send a barrage of crosses into the Leicester box but only managed to create scrambles for the ball that led to easy clearances for Leicester.
In the 67th minute, Leicester themselves broke following a great show of strength from Wilfred Ndidi to shove off an Everton player and then find second half substitute Iheanacho with a through ball. The Nigerian then slid the ball across the box, finding Jamie Vardy who easily slotted it home past Jordan Pickford into an essentially open net.
About five minutes later, Leicester broke again after a terrific run from Harvey Barnes who skipped past Tom Davies but was eventually dispossessed but the ball fell to Vardy who sent in a brilliant cross which fell to the feet of James Maddison who really should have slotted it home from that range.
Following the goal, it looked as though Leicester had found their second wind. Leicester piled on the pressure and just when Everton thought they had managed a well fought point, in the last minute of the game Iheanacho broke free of the Everton defence and with ice in his veins, slotted it past Pickford.
The goal was initially given offside and he did appear to be offside at first but once VAR was implemented it was apparent that he was in fact just onside. The goal was given and Leicester received the full three points.
