Leicester City displayed their best performance of pre-season in what was a thrilling encounter. However, the game was marred by a sickening injury suffered by Leicester's Wesley Fofana. 

The Foxes went into the break 2-0 up after two brilliant goals. Caglar Soyuncu scored the opener after heading home from a Ryan Bertrand set piece and minutes later Harvey Barnes ran clear and finished brilliantly into the roof of the net. 

Ayoze Perez scored the third in the second half after superb work from Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall but from then on in the game took a dark turn after Wesley Fofana suffered what looked to be a fracture to his lower leg. Villarreal then pulled it back to 3-2 but the foxes held out to win. 

Wesley Fofana injury

With Fofana suffering a serious leg injury, it left questions over what centre back pairing Leicester will now play for the start of the season. Benkovic may get his opportunity after multiple loan moves away from the club, but Ndidi is more likely to drop back after covering well in that role before.

Leicester are now expected to dip into the transfer market for a new centre back which may mean that a move for a potential right winger will not be attainable this summer. 

Brendan Rodgers confirmed the foxes will be looking to strengthen at centre back after the horror injury and this will open the door to a list of potential targets such as Ozan Kabak, Gary Cahill and Kurt Zouma to name a few. 

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Harvey Barnes on song

Harvey Barnes made his long awaited return to first team action after a lengthy injury suffered in February last season vs Arsenal. Barnes scored a brilliant counter attacking goal and displayed his blistering pace whilst also remaining composed to cooly finish. It was refreshing to see the Foxes wide-man drive at his fullback showing his fearless nature to be direct which is something Leicester have missed in his absence.

Prior to his injury he was on course for an England call up and Gareth Southgate had publicly admitted he was a contender for a spot in the Euros squad. Barnes scored 13 goals in all competitions last season and he will be looking to continue his fine record in front of goal.

His return will be a huge boost for the team in the upcoming season and the forward will provide the creativity we lacked so desperately towards the end of last season which resulted in the Foxes falling out of the Champions League places a game-week before the season finished.

 

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Leicester City now look forward with a big clash at Wembley against the champions, Manchester City. The community Shield final is often described as a friendly but for Leicester, it will be much more than that as it is a trophy they have never won. 

Leicester faced Manchester United in the final in 2016 but lost narrowly 2-1 with Zlatan Ibrahimovic scoring the winner late on in the second half. Winning a trophy to start the season will breed tremendous confidence for Rodgers' men and it will also allow a final game for players to sharpen up their fitness before heading into the competitive Premier League season against Wolverhampton Wanders. 

It will be interesting to see what defensive line up Leicester play and if a player like Benkovic starts or even 17 year old Ben Nelson who has been involved with the team this pre-season. Will Luke Thomas be preferred to Ryan Bertrand? Will the new summer signings Patson Daka and Boubakary Soumare start? There are lots of questions to be answered on Saturday and it should make for a throughly enjoyable game for Leicester fans. 

 

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