Iheanacho makes Premier League history as Leicester fall to Chelsea

Kelechi Iheanacho scored a goal off the bench as Leicester City fell to a 2-1 defeat at Chelsea in their crunch English Premier League clash at Stamford Bridge, putting Chelsea firmly in the driving seat in the race for UEFA Champions League football.

Buoyed by the presence of 7,999 returning fans, Chelsea looked like a different side from the one that lost to Leicester City just three days earlier in the FA Cup final as they played with great intensity. German striker Timo Werner twice thought he had put Chelsea in front but was twice denied by the VAR, first for offside, and then for a handball. Both teams went into halftime level before Chelsea opened the scoring just 96 seconds into the second half as Antonio Rudiger bundled home from a corner kick. Chelsea soon added a second in the 66th minute after Jorginho calmly scored from the spot following a foul on Werner in the Leicester City box. Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers turned to his joker Kelechi Iheanacho after Chelsea’s first goal, introducing him for James Maddison after an hour, and it was the striker who pulled one back for the Foxes when compatriot Wilfred Ndidi picked the pocket of Mateo Kovacic and slipped the ball to Iheanacho in the Chelsea penalty area, and the striker struck a low shot beyond the despairing dive of Chelsea keeper, Edouard Mendy in the 76th minute. It was Ndidi’s third assist for Iheanacho in the league this season. Chelsea closed out the game to secure a huge 2-1 win in the race for Champions League football next season.

Iheanacho’s strike made him the first man in the history of the English Premier League to score a goal on every day of the week in a single season, a feat which will probably never be matched owing to the uniqueness of this season. Defeat to Chelsea saw Leicester drop to 4th on 66 points, one point behind third placed Chelsea. The Foxes face Tottenham Hotspur in their last Premier League match of the season.