3️⃣ points after Leicester pile the pressure on Chelsea boss Lampard | OneFootball

Leicester City are top of the Premier League after a deserved victory over misfiring Chelsea on Tuesday.

Here’s our analysis of the action from the King Power …

Time to go

Frank Lampard would have been a fool to turn down his beloved Chelsea in the summer of 2019.

But deep down, the Blues legend surely knew this day would come.

Lampard did a decent job last season but expectations ramped up massively following the club’s 2020 summer spending splurge, and he is clearly not the man to meet them.

After briefly improving defensively following the arrival of Edouard Mendy, Chelsea are shipping goals like nobody’s business again, and their defending for both goals was shoddy tonight.

With Ngolo Kanté out injured, Lampard went with Mateo Kovačić as his only deep-lying midfielder and the way this decision just let Leicester have total control of the middle of the pitch was so naive that you almost have to feel a bit sorry for him. What position did he used to play again?

Kai Havertz looks a shadow of his former self while Timo Werner is bereft of confidence, and there seems to be a lack of proper leadership all over the pitch.

Lampard gave it a good go but he just isn’t good enough unfortunately. There’s still time for Chelsea to salvage something from this season, but it seems it will take a change in the dugout for it to happen.

Thomas Tuchel is waiting by the phone.

VAR changed the game

Leicester thoroughly deserved this victory but were it not for VAR, it could have gone either way.

Deep into the first half Jonny Evans was adjudged to have tripped Christian Pulisic just inside the box, and referee Craig Pawson pointed straight to the spot.

But a closer look at the replay revealed that the foul had in fact taken place just on the edge, and the decision was quickly overturned.

This is exactly what VAR was supposed to be for, and it’s very satisfying to see it used properly and quickly.

In the pre-technology days, Chelsea probably would have unfairly equalised there and who knows how the rest of the game might have panned out?

In 2021, Leicester soon went down the other end and made 2-0, and now they’re top of the league.

Don’t sleep on Leicester’s title chances

Leicester City are top of the table at the half way point in the season, and yet many still aren’t convinced Brendan Rodgers’s side are serious title contenders.

We really should have learned our lesson in 2016, yet here we are.

The Foxes were excellent straight from the off here and they’ve got quality in every department.

Kasper Schmeichel is an excellent goalkeeper; their back four is as good as any in the Premier League; Wilfried Ndidi is one of the best holding players in the division; Harvey Barnes, James Maddison and Youri Tielemans are all top class; and Jamie Vardy was a constant threat on the break despite not looking fully fit.

Are Leicester as good as the likes of Manchester City, Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham this season? Perhaps not.

But also, why not?

Look for their weaknesses. You will struggle to find any.