Football

Leicester City vs Everton Player Ratings: Neither Side Leaves the King Power Satisfied

Leicester City vs Everton Player Ratings: Neither Side Leaves the King Power Satisfied
1st May 2023; King Power Stadium, Leicester, England; Premier League Football, Leicester City versus Everton; Jamie Vardy of Leicester City chips the ball over Jordan Pickford of Everton but the ball goes over the crossbar - Photo by Icon sport

  • Leicester and Everton share the spoils in thrilling relegation scrap.
  • Both sides led during the game and both had chances to win it.
  • James Maddison misses a penalty at the end of the first half to give Leicester a 3-1 lead.

Leicester City Player Ratings: Vardy rolls back the years

Daniel Iversen 7/10 – Couldn’t do anything about either goal and made a fantastic save late on to deny Abdoulaye Doucouré

Timothy Castagne 5/10 – Gave Dwight McNeil the entire left flank to himself.

Caglar Soyuncu 7/10 – Scored a crucial equaliser – his first goal since October 2021.

Wout Faes 6/10 – Erratic at the back at time but still came up with a few big tackles and blocks.

Luke Thomas 6/10 – Wasn’t quite as positionally poor as Castagne but still gave Iwobi too much time and space.

Wilfred Ndidi 5/10 – Continues to look a shadow of his former self and was hooked on the hour mark.

Boubakary Soumare 6/10 – Was strong in midfield early on but his legs seem to go towards the end.

Youri Tielemans 7/10 – Was as classy as ever on the ball and coped well when moved out of position.

James Maddison 6/10 – Tried to be the hero too often after missing the penalty late on in the first half.

Harvey Barnes 5/10 – His terrible form continues. Seemed to make the wrong decision each time he entered the final third.

Jamie Vardy 8/10 – Looks like he wants to single-handedly keep Leicester up after also netting against Leeds last time out. Rolled back the years with a tenacious and energetic performance. Deserved his goal.

Substitutes

Patson Daka 6/10 – Worked hard.

Dennis Praet 6/10 – Came on too late to make an impact.

Victor Kristiansen 6/10 – Came on too late to make an impact.

Everton Player Ratings: Alex Iwobi the pick of the toffees

Jordan Pickford 8/10 – Won the battle of the mind games with England teammate, Maddison, when it came to the penalty. A huge save for Everton.

Seamus Coleman 6/10 – Hobbled off just before half time after a solid-enough first half.

Michael Keane 6/10 – Struggled to contain Vardy and doesn’t like it when players run at him.

James Tarkowski 6/10 – Paired with Keane, his lack of pace is exposed further but did well aerially.

Vitali Mykolenko 4/10 – Everton’s weakest link on the night. Often had time to pick out a cross down the left-hand side but his delivery was poor. Defensively, he was frequently caught ball-watching.

Idrissa Gueye 6/10 – An indifferent display from the former PSG-man.

James Garner 6/10 – Looked handy when he got the ball but the intensity seemed too much for him at times.

Abdoulaye Doucouré 7/10 – Drove Everton forward through midfield and came so close to winning his side the game at the death.

Alex Iwobi 8/10 – Took his goal nicely at the back post and caused Thomas problems throughout down the right. His best performance in some time.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin 7/10 Has been labelled as “exceptional” by Pep Guardiola this season and he was a menace throughout as Everton looked to feed him early. Took his penalty well but should have had a second at 1-1.

Dwight McNeil 7/10 – Put in some decent crosses but was guilty of holding onto it for too long at times.

Substitutes 

Nathan Patterson 6/10 – Battled hard after coming on for Coleman. Perhaps lacks a bit of quality on the ball.

Leicester City vs Everton Match Summary and Highlights

Going into the game, both teams knew that anything less than three points would be a poor evening and to be fair, both sides went for it throughout. Everton took an early lead through a Dominic Calvert-Lewin penalty before a quick double from Soyuncu and Vardy turned the game on its head before half time.

Then, just as it seemed the game was drifting towards half time, a Harvey Barnes cross struck Michael Keane on the arm and the referee awarded the Foxes a penalty and a golden opportunity to give themselves a two-goal cushion. After some gamesmanship from Jordan Pickford, James Maddison fired his penalty down the middle which the Everton captain parried away to safety.

The second half was an end-to-end classic and it’s a mystery as to how only one goal was scored. Thankfully for Sean Dyche, though, the only goal went to his side through Alex Iwobi. A McNeil cross deflected over to the back post where Alex Iwobi was waiting to side-foot the ball past Iversen into the far corner of the Leicester net.

Both sides had chances to win it – Leicester through Vardy when Pickford made a mess of a clearance, and Everton through Doucouré who had a left-footed effort from the edge of the box saved by Iversen. Both sides remain firmly in the relegation battle ahead of next week’s fixtures.

Player of the Match: Alex Iwobi

Alex Iwobi has played much of the season in central midfield and has done well there but he looked even better out wide tonight up against Luke Thomas. The 26-year-old has close control and pace to burn and Thomas couldn’t get a grip of him all night. He deserved his goal and looked like Everton’s most likely route to a potential winner as the game got more and more stretched.


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