Five wins in six for buoyant Wolves
Wolverhampton Wanderers 2 v Leicester City 1
There has been talk of late that Leicester City Manager Brendan Rogers, has taken his foot off the proverbial pedal. Basking in the glory of last year’s FA Cup triumph and a more than creditable 5th slot in the Premier League, Rogers believed that the task of transforming the club into a top-flight outfit was all but done. Yet this season a haul of 27 points from 22 games, is a less than satisfactory return. Furthermore two weeks ago his charges were rather unceremoniously dumped from the FA Cup in a 4-1 defeat to local rivals Nottingham Forest. Rogers needed a reset. Would Molineux provide the necessary venue?
If a scoreline is your soul means of arbitration, then Molineux did not. Yet Leicester were far from outplayed and but for some good goalkeeping by Jose Sa and more clinical finishing the outcome may have been rather different. Certainly both sides deserve praise for serving up a lively encounter against the back drop of monsoon level rain and a strong gusty wind. (Hats off btw to those hardy souls in the uncovered Graham Hughes Stand who sat through all of the aforementioned with just a plastic cape for protection).
As for the game it was barely four minutes old when Caglar Soyuncu picked out Ademola Lookman with a fine long ball. The Leicester striker cut inside from the left before feeding Youri Tielemans who from the middle of the box failed to hit the target when unchallenged. The let off galvanised Wolves and playing with the confidence of a team buoyed by an away win at Tottenham, five minutes later they opened their account. The ball started on the half way line with Ruben Neves whose crossfield pass found Daniel Podence. He advanced into Leicester territory before floating a cross which was partially cleared to Raul Jimenez. Collecting the ball the Mexican striker squared to Neves whose fine strike from the edge of the box was marginally deflected off a Leicester shirt into the net. With their tails up Wolves dominated the next quarter hour, a Max Kilman header and a fine strike from Ryan Ait Nourri – following Podence trickery – the result. But it was the visitors who finished the half the stronger and with four minutes of the half remaining they made it pay when Tielemans’ beautifully threaded through ball picked out Marc Albrighton whose low cross was turned in by Lookman.
The end to end nature of the game continued into the second half with Leicester initially looking the more likely to break the deadlock. Lookman, Patson Daka and Tielemans all went close before Wolves, against the run of play, extended their lead through Podence. It was another fine goal which started when Kilman’s long crossfield pass picked out Ait Nourri advancing at pace down the left. Threading his way into the box and with the Leicester defence now at sixes and sevens the Frenchman’s low cross rebounded to Leander Dendoncker who immediately squared to Podence free in the D. In a flash the diminutive forward’s arrow like strike beat Kaspar Schmeichel to nestle in the net. For sheer aesthetics it deserved to be a goal, only for VAR to raise its ugly head. Thankfully a review failed to materialise and Wolves were once again up.
Thereafter the visitors continued to strive substitute James Maddison going close from a free kick and keeper Sa denying Tielemans in time added on. But Wolves held on, the win taking them up to seventh, six points behind fourth placed Manchester United with two games in hand.
Wolverhampton Wanderers: Sa 8, Semedo 6, Kilman 7, Coady 7, Saiss 6, Ait Nourri 7 Sub Marcal, Dendoncker 7, Neves 8, Moutinho 6 Sub Hwang He-Chan, Podence 8 Sub Neto, Jimenez 7
Leicester City: Schmeichel 6, Pereira 7, Amartey 6, Soyuncu 7, Thomas 6, Tielemans 8, Ndidi 6 Sub Maddison, Dewsbury-Hall 6, Albrighton 6, Daka 6 Sub Iheanacho, Lookman 7
Attendance: 31,497
Referee: C Pawson 7
©Mark Brennand