We saw a thriller at the King Power Stadium in a thrilling tactical battle where Brendan Rodgers has now got most of his players back from injury and he is now going back to the formation which has served him well in previous seasons.

This was a key game for Leicester City to try and distance themselves away from the bottom three but also a chance for Brighton and Hove Albion to really stake their claim for a European finish.  

LEICESTER, ENGLAND - JANUARY 21: Evan Ferguson of Brighton & Hove Albion (r) celebrates scoring a goal during the <b><a href='https://www.vavel.com/en/data/premier-league'>Premier League</a></b> match between Leicester City and Brighton & Hove Albion at The King Power Stadium on January 21, 2023 in Leicester, England. (Photo by Malcolm Couzens/Getty Images)
LEICESTER, ENGLAND - JANUARY 21: Evan Ferguson of Brighton & Hove Albion (r) celebrates scoring a goal during the Premier League match between Leicester City and Brighton & Hove Albion at The King Power Stadium on January 21, 2023 in Leicester, England. (Photo by Malcolm Couzens/Getty Images)

 

Here is what we learnt:

Midfield improvements for Leicester

With Keirnan Dewsbury-Hall coming back from injury, Rodgers seemed to be confident enough in his midfielders to play three of them. Dewsbury-Hall, Youri Tielemans and Namplays Mendy all had good games and were key factors in Leicester winning their first point since the World Cup.

Mendy in particular was fantastic for the Foxes this afternoon, playing in the position which used to be occupied by Wilfred Ndidi, and excelled at cutting out Brighton’s attacks.

Winning four of his six duels he repaid his manager’s faith and proved that he should be Leicester’s number 1 CDM. The difference between Mendy today and Ndidi was chalk and cheese, Mendy made playing centre midfield look very easy.

He kept hold of the ball for Leicester when he had it and stopped Brighton's attacks when he was required to. This season, Ndidi has been poor and has hardly won the ball back for Leicester and in doing so struggled to support Leicester’s back four and provided very little cover.

The Senegalese midfielder was a huge part in Leicester picking up a point and did very well to stop the service to Brighton’s front four who could do nothing in the middle of the pitch. However, Rodgers did get this part wrong, he packed the middle of the park too much by dropping Jamie Vardy back into the midfield and creating a diamond to keep Alexis Mac Allister, Adam Lallana, and Danny Welbeck quiet.

However, the fullbacks were far too high up the pitch which gave the wingers more space so therefore all of Brighton’s attack came down the wings and in particular through Kauro Mitoma but this just shows how solid the Leicester midfield was as going through the middle was not an option for the seagulls.

Tielemans and Dewsbury-Hall were also characteristically brilliant and were involved in a fascinating battle with Moises Caicedo and Pascal Gross. Tielemans and Dewsbury-Hall made sure Leicester could make the most of their little possession, with two key passes each both were fantastic at playing the ball wide and allowing Marc Albrighton and Harvey Barnes to get forward and create chances.

Both the midfielders made two key passes each and were key parts of Leicester’s two goals. Dewsbury-Hall played the ball through to Harvey Barnes before the first goal and had Ndidi been there in a 4-2-3-1 that goal would not have happened. Likewise, it was a fantastic corner from Tielemans which helped Leicester score their second of the afternoon.

By going back to this formation, Leicester was able to attack Brighton far more effectively than previously as it allowed far more creativity through the midfield.

Foxes faltering forwards

Two former England strikers, Jamie Vardy and Danny Welbeck, were taught how to be a striker by 18-year-old Evan Ferguson, who looked far better in his 30-minute cameo than either of the two.

Jamie Vardy was particularly poor and is unrecognisable from his former self. In the first half, Barnes played Vardy through and he should have made it 1-0 but he couldn’t get the ball out of his feet which allowed Pervis Estupinan to come in from very far out wide and win the ball stopping a clear goal-scoring opportunity. He had other chances where he got the ball down the channel and if it had been a different player they could have led to a goal.

Vardy also dropped very deep and almost played as a fourth midfielder and in that role, he was lost and couldn’t compete with any of Brighton’s midfielders. Vardy has never been a good technician and would never really link up the ball but was one of the best in the world in the penalty box and running in behind. But when he plays in this deeper role it completely restricts his game as he can’t get into the box or run in behind. Whilst Barnes did make some wrong decisions going forwards the Vardy of old would have found the net at least one or two times today.

So, is it time for Kelechi Iheanacho to start for Leicester? He has a fantastic goal-scoring record averaging one every 122 minutes in the Premier League throughout his career and could help solve some of Leicester’s attacking woes.

Leicester have struggled all over the pitch this season and his tireless work rate and goal-scoring ability mean he could be the Vardy replacement by also stopping some attacks from the source. Patson Daka is another Leicester striker who has been given opportunities and has looked dangerous but has been wasteful in front of goal and is not a prolific striker with just 8 goals in 40 games meaning he isn’t quite good enough to start for Leicester.

LEICESTER, ENGLAND - JANUARY 21: Leicester City's Youri Tielemans in action during the Premier League match between Leicester City and Brighton & Hove Albion at The King Power Stadium on January 21, 2023 in Leicester, United Kingdom. (Photo by Alex Dodd - CameraSport via Getty Images)
LEICESTER, ENGLAND - JANUARY 21: Leicester City's Youri Tielemans in action during the Premier League match between Leicester City and Brighton & Hove Albion at The King Power Stadium on January 21, 2023 in Leicester, United Kingdom. (Photo by Alex Dodd - CameraSport via Getty Images)

 

Trossard replacement required

Adam Lallana got a muscular injury on the 30-minute mark of this afternoon's match and when he came off Brighton seemed to lack any real spark down the centre of the pitch.

Whilst Leicester did make this difficult for the Seagulls by packing out their midfield, Brighton just couldn’t get through. Usually, Leandro Trossard would have come on and played as a number 10 in cases like these however without Lallana and Trossard Brighton has very few players who can play in this position and was forced into changing some key components in order to play in the system that they wanted.

At the start of the game, Pascal Gross looked like a threat coming inside and opening up the right side for Solly March who looked extremely threatening in the opening exchanges. Mac Allister and Moises Caicedo bossed the midfield and Lallana looked himself looked very bright.

But, when Lallana came off for Veltman March’s space became restricted as Veltman was trying to get forwards on the overlap reducing March’s effectiveness. Brighton lost some of that fight in midfield which Mac Allister provided before he moved into the number 10 position so some of Leicester’s counterattacks weren’t stopped.

If Brighton had a player like Trossard on the bench it could have been a straight swap for Lallana which would have allowed Brighton to stay in their original shape which was causing Leicester some problems.

Whilst Trossard isn’t key to Brighton’s way of playing the Belgian is still the club’s top goal scorer this season with seven goals, and these will need to be replaced. Danny Welbeck and Solly March both missed chances that Trossard would finish had he been on the pitch.

Brighton has shown some initiative though as they are reportedly preparing a £25 million bid for Italian youngster Nico Zaniolo. This could be a huge scalp and despite injury problems, Zaniolo has immense talent and could help relay some of the burden of injury-prone Lallana and would be a real statement signing in Brighton’s push for European football.

Seagulls Set piece struggles

Brighton has only scored once from set pieces this year and this could really hamper them come to the end of the season. With players like Lewis Dunk, Adam Webster, Jean-Paul Van Hecke and Levi Colwill this number really should be higher. Today highlighted this fact and whilst Van Hecke did have an opportunity from a corner more goals should be coming from these situations.

One of the things that separate the teams at the top is their ability to score set pieces, table toppers Arsenal have scored 7 this season and Man City have 6 themselves.

These situations provide massive goals for teams in all parts of the table and this is something Brighton should be perfectly aware of considering their set-piece goals under Houghton when Dunk and Duffy would come up from defence and is a massive reason why Brighton is still in this league.

Consistently, March and Gross failed to beat the first man from their corners and these are the small margins Brighton needs to start winning. The importance of a good set piece was emphasised when Leicester took the lead from a corner that Brighton failed to clear and showed how much Brighton needs to improve in these areas at both ends of the pitch.

LEICESTER, ENGLAND - JANUARY 21: Kaoru Mitoma of Brighton & Hove Albion celebrates after scoring a goal to make it 0-1 during the Premier League match between Leicester City and Brighton & Hove Albion at The King Power Stadium on January 21, 2023 in Leicester, United Kingdom. (Photo by James Williamson - AMA/Getty Images)
LEICESTER, ENGLAND - JANUARY 21: Kaoru Mitoma of Brighton & Hove Albion celebrates after scoring a goal to make it 0-1 during the Premier League match between Leicester City and Brighton & Hove Albion at The King Power Stadium on January 21, 2023 in Leicester, United Kingdom. (Photo by James Williamson - AMA/Getty Images)
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