Leicester 1-2 Chelsea: Nicolas Jackson and Enzo Fernandez score as Enzo Maresca’s side close gap on Liverpool to six points despite late Jordan Ayew goal

You have to admire Enzo Maresca’s sense of timing.

His first job as a manager in English football was winning promotion with one of the best sides in the history of the Championship. Once he completed that task at Leicester, Maresca was able to leave before the going got tough and take charge of Chelsea, whose squad is the envy of the world.

No one knows how Maresca would have gone about guiding a flawed Leicester team to survival. Chances are, barring the final seconds of stoppage time, he wouldn’t have had many days as comfortable as this one.

Goals in either half from Nicolas Jackson and Enzo Fernandez left Chelsea third in the table, six points behind leaders Liverpool, ahead of the rest of the weekend’s matches. Apart from a brief burst before half-time, Leicester offered nothing in attack and could have received at least one red card. Although Jordan Ayew’s stoppage time penalty got them on the scoresheet, it looks to be a long, tough winter for boss Steve Cooper, who is still looking to get the best out of these players.

Maresca was spared the boos that greeted Wesley Fofana, who remains unforgiven by the Leicester fans for forcing a move to Chelsea in the summer of 2022. With Malo Gusto absent sick, Fofana came in at right-back and both he and the visitors settled down. Good.

Although Chelsea did not test Mads Hermansen in the opening ten minutes, they were in complete control. On his first start of the campaign, Joao Felix swept the ball from a good position after Leicester failed to clear a corner, moments later sending a thumping volley from the edge of the box just over.

Jackson continued his impressive start to the season with a goal in the 15th minute

Enzo Fernandez doubled Chelsea’s lead against Leicester when he scored in the 75th minute

Maresca’s men now knocked louder on the door and in the 15th minute it flew open. Jackson outsmarted the hapless Wout Faes, who, in an attempt to save the situation, targeted Enzo Fernandez. The Argentinian quickly let go of Jackson and the attacker from Senegal did the rest with the outside of his right shoe. Maresca roared with joy and gave him the full fist.

At this stage Leicester looked untroubled. After losing Harry Winks to injury early on, Steve Cooper’s men were missing the one player who could control the tempo. There were wild tackles from Wilfred Ndidi on Cole Palmer and Boubakary Soumare on Felix. Both midfielders were fortunate to receive yellow cards, and Winks’ replacement Oliver Skipp soon joined them in the book for a mistimed strike on Fernandez.

Moments later, Noni Madueke thought he had doubled Chelsea’s lead when he whipped in Marc Cucurella’s cross, but the Spanish full-back was slightly offside.

That delay gave Leicester the jolt they needed. Bilal El Khannouss grew impressively in the match and was at the center of two moves that could have resulted in goals.

First, the Moroccan combined well with Soumare and Skipp, which led to an angled drive from Kasey McAteer that flew just wide.

Jamie Vardy then collected another smart pass from El Khannouss before sliding in Victor Kristiansen, whose deflected cross found Ndidi. Ndidi was not known for his technical precision and shone wide with his shin.

Yet here was the conundrum for Leicester. The further they crawled out of their bunker, the more space was created for Chelsea. After a fast break, Jackson’s cross left Hermansen behind, but fortunately for the home side, Madueke’s feet ended up in a tangle and his volley drifted wide.

Fernandez, who had provided the assist for Jackson’s goal, increased Chelsea’s lead

Enzo Maresca managed to guide Chelsea to victory against his former club Leicester

Leicester midfielder Wilfred Ndidi was only shown a yellow card for his challenge on Cole Palmer

Former Leicester defender Wesley Fofana was booed by the Foxes supporters

Chelsea somehow failed to make it 2-0 early in the second half. Hermansen made an excellent save from Jackson and when the loose ball fell to Palmer, Madueke found himself in the way of his teammate’s goal attempt and Leicester were awarded a goal kick. Madueke could do nothing but smile in disbelief.

The revival in Leicester simply did not develop after the break. Chelsea remained in control and it was no surprise when they scored the decisive goals. Hermansen kept out Jackson’s point-blank header from Cucurella’s cross and the ball looped perfectly for Fernandez to head it in, while Leicester unsuccessfully appealed that Caleb Okoli had been fouled by Jackson.

Cooper had already been shown a yellow card and was even angrier when Fofana was not penalized when he came into contact with substitute Stephy Mavididi in the box. VAR backed referee Andrew Madley, much to the anger of the home side as the replay was shown on the big screen.

Leicester had better luck from VAR when Madley was told to award a penalty due to Romeo Lavia’s foul on fellow substitute Bobby Decordova-Reid. Ayew beat Robert Sanchez’s dive, but it proved too little too late.