Leicester City’s Marcin Wasilewski and Liverpool’s Rickie Lambert
Leicester City remain rooted to the foot of the Premier League after another night of woe for Nigel Pearson’s men.
City had captain Wes Morgan sent off as Liverpool inflicted more misery on Pearson and his troops, who have now picked up just two points from their last nine games.
City may have thought their luck had changed when Leonardo Ulloa’s shot struck the post and went in off keeper Simon Mignolet in the first half and the game remained in the balance after Adam Lallana’s equaliser.
But poor defending gifted a Liverpool second for Steven Gerrard, who rested at the weekend for this game, and 10 minutes later Morgan was shown a straight red card for denying Rickie Lambert a goalscoring opportunity.
Jordan Henderson completed the comeback for the visitors s City suffered only their second defeat of the season on home soil.
City seemed up for the clash from the first whistle and the game was being played at a frantic pace.
It was clear from the outset that Liverpool’s major threat was going to come on both flanks, with Raheem Sterling and Lallana giving Ritchie De Laet and Paul Konchesky torrid times respectively.
At the other end, Ulloa was proving a handful for the Reds’ defence, while Jamie Vardy’s typically energetic running was a great outlet for City.
Although there was a hint of a lack of confidence in front of goal from City’s No.9.
As early as the ninth minute, Ulloa’s brilliant ball set him up one against one with Kolo Toure but Vardy snatched at his shot from long-range and dragged it harmlessly wide.
City were causing themselves problems by squandering possession in poor areas and allowing Liverpool to launch counter-attacks utilising the pace of Sterling and Lallana.
But the visitors almost shot themselves in the foot in the 20th minute when keeper Simon Mignolet’s attempted pass to Martin Skrtel presented Esteban Cambiasso with an open goal.
Of all the men on the pitch, City would have wanted the chance to fall to it was the experienced Argentine, who was superb throughout the first half, but his first time effort from 30 yards out drifted agonisingly wide.
They say you shouldn’t look a gifthorse in the mouth, but Cambiasso took a long hard stare down its throat.
The fear was that, as has been the case so often of late, City would be punished, but they finally got a stroke of luck a minute later.
Riyad Mahrez played a delightful ball in for Vardy behind the Reds’ defence and, after his effort was eventually cleared off the line by Skrtel, Ulloa picked up the loose ball and his shot from a tight angle rebounded off the foot of the post and went in off the back of Mignolet.
But City’s tendency to switch off defensively came back to haunt them five minutes later for Liverpool’s equaliser.
City had cleared a Steven Gerrard free-kick but Lucas clipped the ball back into the box for Rickie Lambert and his nod down was slammed home by Lallana, who had stole in beyond Konchesky.
The second half continued in similar fashion with both sides probing for the breakthrough and City were playing some decent stuff but once again they were given another reminder how unforgiving the Premier League is, when Sterling’s low cross in the 53rd minute was only nudged to the edge of the box by Wes Morgan and Gerrard hammered home the loose ball.
It couldn’t have been served up on a plate any more invitingly for the former England captain.
Morgan’s night got worse in the 63rd minute when he miscontrolled a back pass under pressure from Lambert and as the Liverpool striker was set to race clear Morgan pulled him back, leaving referee Lee Mason no choice but to show him the red card.
There was some good fortune for City as Kasper Schmeichel survived a penalty appeal for a challenge on Gerrard but, almost immediately, Lady Luck turned her back on City, as Cambiasso’s goal-bound shot struck team-mate Vardy and deflected wide of the post.
Then Vardy had a volley from the edge of the box deflected just wide. The agony was almost too much to bear.
City were soon put out of their misery as the third goal came in the 84th minute, when Marcin Wasilewski’s attempted intervention to stop a Gerrard’s cross deflected to Sterling and he teed up Jordan Henderson, unmarked, to end City’s hopes.
TEAMS
Leicester (4-4-2): 1 Kasper Schmeichel; 2 Ritchie De Laet, 27 Marcin Wasilewski, 5 Wes Morgan, 3 Paul Konchesky (11 Marc Albrighton, 80); 26 Riyad Mahrez, 8 Matty James, 19 Esteban Cambiasso, 15 Jeff Schlupp; 9 Jamie Vardy, 23 Leonardo Ulloa. Subs: 4 Danny Drinkwater, 10 Andy King, 12 Ben Hamer, 18 Liam Moore, 24 Anthony Knockaert, 39 Chris Wood.
Bookings: Schlupp. Sent-off: Morgan.
Liverpool (4-3-3): 22 Simon Mignolet; 2 Glen Johnson, 37 Martin Skrtel, 4 Kolo Toure, 19 Javi Manquillo (18 Alberto Moreno H/T); 21 Lucas Leiva, 8 Steven Gerrard, 14 Jordan Henderson; 20 Adam Lallana (24 Joe Allen, 70), 9 Rickie Lambert, 31 Raheem Sterling (6 Dejan Lovren, 90+4). Subs: 1 Brad Jones, 10 Phillipe Coutinho, 23 Emre Can, 50 Lazar Markovic.
Bookings: Lallana, Gerrard
Referee: Lee Mason (Greater Manchester)
Attendance: 32,000
source: leicestermercury.co.uk
STUDIO 3 NEWCASTLE AUSTRALIA 