Slimani bags a brace in dominant Leicester win

It was a convincing performance from Leicester as they put three goals past newly promoted Burnley. Record signing Islam Slimani netted a brace, with the away side slotting in the third courtesy of a former loan player, Ben Mee. Claudio Ranieri’s men looked comfortable in what’s been a historic week for the club.

The biggest question was how our still relatively small squad would cope with our first experience of a three game week combining our first ever Champions League match book-ended by two Premier League clashes. The answer? Pretty well in the end. If there was ever a way to get away a very disappointing 4-1 away loss, beating Club Brugge in some style to take an early lead in our Champions League and picking up three Premier League points this weekend was it.

After a season of relative non-tinkering, it was inevitable as Leicester entered the three game a week phase that we’d see at least one or two changes. Fit again Danny Simpson came back in at right-back for Luis Hernandez who while he didn’t do anything wrong midweek, still lacks a little match sharpness and experience of how the team plays. The only other change was in goal. With Kasper Schmeichel ruled out as a precaution after being concussed in training, we saw Ron Robert Zieler’s first Premier League start. It’s a luxury to be able to rest the likes of Schmeichel and have the calibre of Zieler to step up for us. He looked at ease and wasn’t truly tested until the 80th minute, a Burnley free-kick seemingly sending the ball one way only for it to swerve suddenly. He showed great reactions to change direction and palm the ball away. In truth, it was the closest the away side came to troubling us but the German goalkeeper will still be happy to secure a clean sheet.

Despite Ranieri’s comments pre-match that Islam Slimani wasn’t quite ready for a full ninety minutes yet, Foxes fans were more than happy to see the striker make his Premier League debut. We got our first glimpse of him midweek against Brugges and it was a very promising display that showed he was slotting into our team well already. Midweek, one silly push aside, he was incredibly exciting to watch, demonstrating a physicality we’re not particularly blessed with up front as well as great movement and vision.

If midweek was a teasing first display, today more than matched expectations. Slimani played the full ninety minutes, scoring two goals and not looking remotely unfit or lacking match sharpness. He crowned his Premier League debut with a perfectly timed goal on the stroke of half-time to give Leicester a deserved 1-0 lead over Burnley and secured his brace early into the second half. He probably could have had a third after Jamie Vardy tee’d him up beautifully, but he couldn’t convert it. You sense that these are just the first of many to come. So far, he’s more than worth the money we had to part with to sign him. He and Vardy already have chemistry and the England striker deserves more plaudits than he’ll likely get for his part in the second goal, that little flick superb.

It had been a satisfying first half display from the Foxes, only lacking a goal, though it wasn’t for a lack of trying. I wondered how we’d cope with an away side that would pose a different kind of opponent and who frustrated Liverpool recently. Burnley put five into their midfield to try and target our weak area and aim to disrupt our attack heavy line-up and they did keep us at bay to an extent, but we had more clear cut chances to have scored before Slimani headed in the opener. Riyad Mahrez came close with a header himself, his performance causing Burnley a fair few problems down the right with Marc Albrighton and Christian Fuchs getting equal joy down the left. Zieler had little to do at the other end as Burnley struggled to make their possession count.

Hitting the away side with a goal so close to half-time likely meant manager Sean Dyche re-thinking what he was planning to say and was probably demotivating as they had worked hard together to try and minimise our threat. They succeeded in keeping Vardy a little quieter than we’re used to, but with Slimani, Mahrez, Fuchs and Albrighton all to contend with as well, the goal had felt inevitable. Albrighton was the man of the moment midweek, scoring Leicester’s first ever Champions League goal and putting in a superb performance alongside it. He was on form again today, likely bolstered by having a target man in Slimani to aim his crosses into the box for. Watch this space.

The Foxes remained in control for the second half, enjoying long spells of possession and playing some lovely, passing football. We did a much better job of playing as a team than we had in previous games. It was a world away from the display at Anfield and much more like the successful team from last year. It was brilliant to see Mahrez on good form again after his own brace midweek. We got runs at defenders, little tricks and skills and some great link-up play between him and Slimani. There were moments again today where he, and our other attacking players, were simply unplayable.

Ranieri will be very happy with his players. It was an all around good team performance that never really required us to leave first gear. The confidence appears to be restored and subsequently, the football on display is matching it. Our back line may not have been pressured as much as in recent games, but they looked solid. Wes Morgan particularly stood out from a defensive point of view, always appearing in command. Fuchs had one of his best games for a while as well, allowed so much space to roam forward by Burnley, presenting him and Albrighton the chance to overlap and rotate which one of them it was pumping the ball into the box. He bagged himself an assist for Slimani’s first and was unlucky with a second half chance that had Heaton scrambling to his near post, the ball struck so hard.

Leicester appear to be back to their best. It’s been another historic week for the Foxes and a very satisfying second half of it. With a midweek cup game against Chelsea this Tuesday, I’d expect Ranieri to make full use of our squad and ring the changes again. Andy King, who came on to replace Danny Drinkwater, will likely start and Zieler will likely retain his place. It’ll be a chance for our key players to be rested and their back-ups to get valuable match time. Our young players, Ben Chilwell and Demarai Gray, will hopefully also feature.