Ben Chilwell, Kai Havertz, and Mateo Kovacic scored goals as Chelsea defeated Leicester City 3-1 on Saturday in the Premier League to keep their recent run of good fortune going.
Graham Potter’s team has now won three straight games in all competitions after a disastrous stretch of two victories in 15 games. With 37 points, they are 10th in the league standings, while 16th-placed Leicester will now be watching them closely.
Our three victories this week against Leeds, Dortmund, and today speak much about the team’s progress, Potter told Sky Sports. It’s a close game, as they often are, but I felt like we deserved to win in the end.
With victories against Leeds United and Borussia Dortmund, the visitors were feeling confident and dominated the game’s opening phase.
Chilwell scored against his previous team with a sharp left-footed volley in the 11th minute, beating goalkeeper Danny Ward at his near post.
James Maddison sent in a dangerous cross for Leicester two minutes later, but Daniel Amartey’s errant header from close range allowed them to nearly immediately respond.
In a thrilling first period, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall of Leicester and Chelsea’s Joao Felix both hit the post before the Portuguese international had a goal disallowed for offside.
In the 39th minute, Felix lost control of the ball in his own half, and Patson Daka, a striker, broke it loose and scored a goal by putting the ball past Kepa Arrizabalaga.
After the equaliser, Leicester kept up the pressure, but Chelsea struck shortly before halftime. Enzo Fernandez set Havertz up with a deft chip, and the striker floated it over Ward and into the goal.
At the half, the hosts didn’t let up in their effort and were denied an equaliser by a goal line clearance from replacement Conor Gallagher before Dewsbury-Hall erred with a close-range shot to absolve Chelsea.
Chelsea used their lifeline to its fullest potential by acquiring Mykhailo Mudryk had a goal disallowed for offside before setting up Kovacic, whose thunderous strike in the 78th minute gave Potter’s team the three points.
Wout Faes was sent for a late tackle on Carney Chukwuemeka, adding insult to injury for Leicester, who have now lost four consecutive league games.
The players gave everything over the duration of the game, and with the score at 2-1, we had two excellent opportunities, according to Brendan Rodgers, manager of Leicester.
“When they possess that quality, they have the opportunity to score and we don’t get that goal. They then score it 3-1, which is tough since we are down to 10 men.”
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