Chelsea came through a nervy finish to beat Leicester City 2-1 at the King Power Stadium on Saturday.
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Nicolas Jackson and Enzo Fernandez were on the scoresheet for the Blues as Jordan Ayew’s stoppage-time penalty proved only to be a consolation for the hosts.
Chelsea dominated early on and Jackson’s brilliant outside-of-the-foot finish past Mads Hermansen gave them the lead in the 15th minute.
Chelsea almost grabbed the second when Cole Palmer shot towards an open goal, only to see his team-mate Noni Madueke block his attempt.
Jackson was involved in Chelsea’s second, too, as his header was saved by Hermansen, only for Fernandez to nod home the rebound for his first goal since February against Crystal Palace.
Ayew made no mistake from the spot to set up a grandstand finale, but third-place Chelsea held firm to move to within a point of Manchester City, prior to the reigning Premier League champions’ clash with Tottenham Hotspur later on Saturday, while Leicester dropped down to 16th.
Fernandez and Jackson linked up for Chelsea’s opener.
Having put Wout Faes under pressure, Jackson brilliantly controlled Fernandez’s pass before prodding a fine finish into the right-hand corner.
Noni Madueke had a shot palmed away by Hermansen in the 29th minute before the Chelsea winger finished first-time from a Marc Cucurella cross three minutes later only for the goal to be ruled out for offside.
Madueke could not get out of the way when Cole Palmer looked all set to double Chelsea’s advantage from close range after the break, with his shot blocked by his club-mate on the line.
Yet Chelsea’s second did arrive in the 75th minute when Hermansen’s save from Jackson’s header found Fernandez, who kept his composure to head in.
Wesley Fofana was perhaps fortunate not to give away a penalty for a challenge on Stephy Mavididi, but Leicester did get a spot-kick when VAR overturned an offside decision on Bobby De Cordova-Reid, who had been bundled over by Romeo Lavia. Ayew’s finish had too much power for Robert Sanchez, but it was too little too late for the Foxes.
Many happy returns for Maresca
Enzo Maresca guided Leicester back to the Premier League at the first time of asking last season before switching his allegiance to Chelsea.
And his side’s performance was further proof that Chelsea are heading in the right direction and ready to challenge for a top-four finish this season, at the very least.
Chelsea’s last win had come over Newcastle United at the end of October, but after draws against Manchester United and Arsenal, the Blues dominated much of the proceedings on Maresca’s former stomping ground.
However, the Italian will want to see his team put matches to bed much sooner. They were ultimately made to hang on somewhat, when the opportunities had been there to put themselves out of sight well before Leicester’s late resurgence.
But he will be pleased with the way his players kept probing for a second, with Fernandez particularly effective in supporting the excellent Jackson.
There are six points between Chelsea and league leaders Liverpool, but the Blues are certainly a force to be reckoned with this term.
Leicester’s troubles mount up
An injury to Harry Winks only added to Steve Cooper's woes as his side find themselves right in the middle of a relegation scrap after another largely uninspiring display.
The Foxes had already lost promising 20-year-old Ghana winger Abdul Fatawu for the remainder of the season after picking up a knee injury during the international break.
And Winks, another of Leicester’s standout performers this season, lasted just about 10 minutes on Saturday before he was replaced by Oliver Skipp. Wilfred Ndidi, meanwhile, was perhaps lucky to escape harsher punishment for a late lunge on Palmer in the first half.
With Facundo Buonanotte suspended, it was Kasey McAteer, on his full Premier League debut, who went closest for the hosts prior to Ayew’s penalty, with a shot that whistled past Sanchez’s goal late in the first half.
Indeed, Ayew's spot-kick was their only shot on target, and Leicester have now only collected a single point from the last four matches, with that draw coming against fellow promoted side Ipswich Town.
| Position Pos | Club | Played Pl | GD | Points Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Liverpool
LIV
|
11 | +15 | 28 |
| 2 |
Man City
MCI
|
11 | +9 | 23 |
| 3 |
Chelsea
CHE
|
12 | +9 | 22 |
| 4 |
Arsenal
ARS
|
12 | +9 | 22 |
Match reports
Leicester report | Chelsea report
What the managers said:
Cooper: "Tough first half in terms of Chelsea territory and dominance with the ball. We gave away a poor goal. It should have been 0-0. We had two good chances ourselves in the first half.
"Defensively we were generally OK. We need to be showing good courage and belief. If we do that we can create chances and be a threat. We’ll always be disappointed with the goals we conceded."
Maresca: 'I thought today was the right game to use Enzo even if he was just back from international duty. I think he did very well.
'I am trying to convince Enzo in the way I played last year [at Leicester] with [Wilfred] Ndidi and Kiernan [Dewsbury-Hall], the attacking midfielder has to arrive inside the box. The reason he scored today was because he was in the box. Otherwise from outside the box you are not going to score goals."
Next Premier League fixtures
Key facts
Chelsea remain unbeaten in their last 10 Premier League games against newly promoted sides (W6 D4), since a 2-1 defeat against Fulham in January 2023.
Enzo Fernandes has both scored (1) and assisted (1) for the first time in a Chelsea shirt, while he’s assisted five goals in his last three appearances in all competitions, indeed only Mohamed Salah (10), Bukayo Saka (7) and Bruno Fernandes (7) have more assists among Premier League players than the Argentinian (6) this season.
Nicolas Jackson scored his seventh Premier League goal of the season, his fifth away from home. Since May, only Erling Haaland (18) has scored more goals in the competition than the Blues’ striker (11) while no player has scored more away goals than Jackson (5) in 2024-25.
Jordan Ayew has scored all three of his penalties taken in the Premier League (two for West Ham), while he’s netted three goals in his last five games in the competition this season – all coming after the 90th minute.
