Leicester 1-0 NewcastleHome team scorersShinji Okazaki 25
Leicester City's march towards the Premier League title shows no sign of abating after Shinji Okazaki ruined Rafael Benítez's first game in charge with a sublime bicycle kick
For a team in new, dizzying territory Leicester City are doing a fine job of showing they can enjoy the view from the top of the Premier League without suffering a debilitating bout of vertigo. This might not rank among their more distinguished performances but every team that wins the championship stacks up a few stodgy 1-0 victories and the upshot is that Claudio Ranieri’s team have re-established a five-point lead with eight games to go.
Leicester have certainly played better this season and for large parts of the second half the crowd was longing for the final whistle. Yet even when they were struggling for their usual fluency, with their star players becoming increasingly peripheral and an anxious Ranieri waving his arms to implore more from his team, there were signs of the stubbornness that will be needed if they are to maintain their position.
In their last seven games, they have now kept six clean sheets. Newcastle’s players looked eager to impress their new manager but Leicester’s defence, superbly marshalled by Robert Huth and Wes Morgan, formed an impenetrable barrier in front of Kasper Schmeichel on a night when Rafael Benítez’s team had lots of the ball without really examining the home team’s goalkeeper.
Benítez’s arrival certainly seemed to have sharpened a few minds judging by the way a team entrenched in relegation danger began the game. The hesitancy that has scarred recent performances had been replaced by a willingness to take the ball and, more than anything, a streak of positivity that has rarely been seen this season. Newcastle’s fans never sang Steve McClaren’s even in his early days at the club but Benítez was loudly welcomed by the away end and his team were looking fairly comfortable until Okazaki decided it was time to add some stardust to the occasion.
Okazaki may not always catch the eye in the same way as Jamie Vardy or Riyad Mahrez but the Japan international has shown his own capacity for unsettling defences during Leicester’s rise to the top and it was a wonderfully taken goal to soothe the crowd’s nerves.
Newcastle had failed to clear a free-kick and when Marc Albrighton clipped the ball back into the penalty area Steven Taylor, stretching to head the cross away, could only knock it behind him to the far post. Vardy out-jumped Jack Colback and Okazaki, showing great anticipation and technique, launched himself into the air to score with an overhead kick from six yards.
Vardy had been marginally offside when he provided the knockdown but every successful team needs a slice of good fortune and for the rest of the first half Leicester looked more like their usual selves, attacking in numbers and causing Newcastle problems with their speed and directness when they broke forward.
Albrighton came close to adding a second barely three minutes after Okazaki’s goal and, at that stage, Leicester might have been able to relax a little if his curling shot had not drifted beyond the far post. Vardy and Okazaki were difficult, elusive opponents to mark and, every so often, there was a burst of appreciation from the crowd for one of Mahrez’s pieces of soft-touch refinement.
Newcastle, however, did not crumple in the way that had become the hallmark of McClaren’s teams and by half-time, they had started to cause some problems of their own. Aleksandar Mitrovic looked determined to have an influence but Newcastle’s attacks tended to break down on the edge of the penalty area and it was clear why they have found it so difficult to score in their away fixtures. Benítez has inherited a team with only eight goals from their previous 20 away games, and failing to score in 13 of them, and though there were half-chances for Mitrovic, Colback and Moussa Sissoko their first-half efforts were unable to conjure up a really presentable opportunity.
That pattern continued after the interval and, though Benítez must have been encouraged by the amount of time his team had with the ball the downside was they clearly did not do enough with it. Mitrovic often found himself up against both Leicester centre-halves and there were not too many times when the visiting midfielders would take a risk and run beyond the striker. Benítez brought on Andros Townsend in place of the more defence-minded Vurnon Anita but it did not have an immediate impact, and if his team are to avoid dropping into the Championship the first area for improvement has to be their attack. Mitrovic toiled away manfully but he needed team-mates to be breaking away and giving him more options.
The worry for Leicester’s supporters at this point was that the home team had lost their momentum and only sporadically threatening Robert Elliot’s goal. Danny Drinkwater has been outstanding this season but this was not one of his better nights and it was unusual to see Leicester’s more penetrative players creating so little after the break.
Newcastle might have had a late penalty when Morgan jutted out an elbow to block Sissoko’s shot but, equally, Leicester though they could have had one of their own in the first half when Vardy went down under Daryl Janmaat’s challenge. Benítez’s men could not rouse themselves for a late onslaught and Leicester’s almost implausible title campaign moves on.
Guardian
