Leicester City play Wolverhampton Wanderers at the Molineux only for the third time in Premier League history, on Sunday evening.
While Leicester have not even won once away at Wolverhampton, the hosts enter the clash confidently thanks to successive commendable performance over the Foxes at home – clinching two 4-3 victories and a stalemate.
One of the two high-scoring encounters occurred during the 2018/19 Premier League season when ninth-placed Leicester visited eighth placed Wolves in a thrilling match that had everything one could ask for.
This time around, both teams sit poles apart in the standings. Leicester sit in third place, 11 places above Wolves in the table.
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Compact Wolves enjoy start strong
Within the opening twenty minutes, Leicester were put to the sword. In the third minute, Ruben Neves displayed his long range skills as he curled in a beautiful shot at the top right corner, only to see Kasper Schmeichel save it with utmost grace. One minute later, Diogo Jota knocked the ball in the back of the net after he met Joao Moutinho’s cross from close range, beating Danny Simpson in the process. Exactly ten minutes later, Ryan Bennett scored his first Premier League goal and Wolves’ second after he rose high to guide in a header from an in-swinging corner.
Wolves’ second goal was a sign for the Foxes to start taking proceedings seriously. Demarai Gray was the liveliest of the attackers for Leicester, but it was Nuno Esperito Santo’s men who came close to making it 3-0 through Jota once again who missed a sitter from five yards out.
As the half came to a close, it was all about not letting in another goal for Leicester although they saw more of the ball. Claude Puel’s Foxes needed to muster some courage in order to make a comeback and what a second half it turned out to be.
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Spiny Leicester fight hard
It is safe to say Puel fuelled his team with a tough half-time talk in the dressing room, as Leicester’s brightest star upfront, Gray dribbled past Romain Saiss and finished his shot past Rui Patricio in the bottom corner – just one minute into the second half. Four minutes later, Harvey Barnes struck a loose ball in the 18-yard-box, which deflected through the legs of Conor Coady and found its way to the back of the net.
Although Leicester started stronger than ever, the 65th minute saw Jota make the most of a delightful long ball from Ruben Neves and hit the ball sweetly past Schmeichel. After going down once more, recurring attack upon attack was Leicester’s only choice, with Jamie Vardy and fellow Foxes attackers seeing a lot of the ball in the final third, but clinical finishing was the mantra missing from the strikers' books.
The Foxes fought with grit and determination to equalize again, and they did, in the 87th minute. Captain Wes Morgan connected his head extremely well to meet James Maddison’s freekick and it was game on.
With Molineux cheering their beloved Wolves louder than ever, it was Jota once again who made no mistake breaking Leicester City hearts into pieces. In stoppage time, Neves initiated the move from midfield, sending an exceptional cross field pass to Raul Jimenez, who made no mistake in squaring the ball to Jota before the Portuguese tapped in to complete an unforgettable hattrick.
In doing so, he became the first player to knock in three for Wolves in the top flight since John Richards in Division One on 1 October 1977, also against Leicester City at Molineux. Also, with three goals to their name, Leicester passed the 600 goal mark in the Premier League.