Leicester City 2-0 AEK Athens: Foxes win group with comfortable win

Cengiz Under and Harvey Barnes grabbed the goals for the Foxes.

Leicester City 2-0 AEK Athens: Foxes win group with comfortable win
Barnes and Under celebrate the second goal. (Photo by BEN STANSALL/AFP via Getty Images)
joshholland1
By Josh Holland

Leicester City's 2-0 victory over AEK Athens means they top their group in the UEFA Europa League and enter the knockout round as one of the 16 seeded teams.

Cengiz Under and Harvey Barnes scored within two minutes of each other to make it three home successive home wins in the competition.

Despite SC Braga beating Zorya Luhansk in the group's other fixture, the Foxes' head-to-head with the Portuguese side mean they finish as winners of Group G.

Story of the match

Rodgers made seven changes from the side that earned all three points at Sheffield United on Sunday, with Wilfred Ndidi, Cengiz Under and Kelechi Iheanacho all coming into the starting-xi.

The Turkish winger repaid his manager after 12 minutes with a crisp left-footed volley stunned Panagiotis Tsintotas after Stratos Svarnas mistimed his clearance.

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Under's goal means he is now the 12th goal scorer for the Foxes in 17 games this season.

It was 2-0 moments later when Barnes scored his sixth goal in all competitions this season with a deflected effort after the winger closed in from the left-hand side.

Wesley Fofana almost wriggled free to net his first goal for the club, but Barnes' delivery was too high for the young defender.

Leicester's dominance continued, as Kelechi Iheanacho failed to connect with Luke Thomas's cross after good play between good work with Barnes and the left-back.

The two early goals killed the game early doors, providing Athens with no chance of travelling back home with anything.

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Dennis Praet, Ayoze Perez, Barnes and Under all came close to adding to the Foxes lead in the second half.

Nelson Oliveira should have halved the deficit in the final 10 minutes, but his right-footed strike contained too much power and failed to force Danny Ward into a save.

Takeaway from match

The 4-2-3-1 is the perfect formation against weaker teams

With Brighton and Hove Albion visiting the East Midlands on Sunday, it is likely the Seagulls will set up the same as last season, with two blocks of two.

With this in mind, using the same formation on Sunday could be the way to go, as proven beneficial against Athens.

The defensive security of Ndidi, the partnership between Thomas and Barnes, with Jamie Vardy down the middle.

Using a back three has caused the Foxes problems in recent fixtures, so could Rodgers revert back to the usual 4-2-3-1/4-1-4-1?