Analysis: Leicester

Leicester began the match looking for long balls in behind Tottenham’s defensive unit. With Spurs forming a mid-block and playing a very high defensive line, they tried to play early balls over the central defence, looking for lone forward Kelechi Iheanacho to outrun Jan Vertonghen or Toby Alderweireld. However, the central base from these passes forward allowed goalkeeper Hugo Lloris to collect or sweep up the danger.

In slightly adapting the starting point of these passes, the Foxes did eventually work the ball into the final third. Rather than the midfielders looking to play in behind straight away, Vicente Iborra dropped even deeper into the back line, drawing the Spurs attackers away from their central defenders. Deeper players in the back line now played the passes in behind, with a more effective change of angle – this took Lloris out of the equation, enabling wide attackers James Maddison and Demarai Gray to move forward.

With little to show for their efforts, Maddison soon drifted infield from the left – most notably when the central midfield regained possession or looked likely to. The hosts now had a brief central overload after winning the ball and had an immediate forward pass to hit. Ben Chilwell could support from left-back for the first time in the match, as the focus switched to this side. Moussa Sissoko also posed less of an attacking threat than Dele Alli and Son Heung-min on the opposite side – should Leicester lose possession on their left, Chilwell’s advanced position wasn’t really exploited.

Second-half changes from head coach Claude Puel saw an increase of pressure on to Spurs’ back line. Maddison, Demarai Gray and substitute Marc Albrighton tried to rush the visitors’ defenders into mistakes on the ball – however, their calmness ensured total control of possession within their half.

Leicester’s most effective spells of pressure came when the wingers directly attacked their opponents’ back line at a time when their full-backs were trying to recover into shape. But even as they surged forward, the hosts were lacking in quality final balls to unlock an alert and well-organised defence.

Without the ball, the Foxes formed a 4-1-4-1 mid-block, with Iborra protecting the central spaces between the lines. The priority was on vertical compactness and stopping Spurs from combining in the central lane. They tried to force the play into wide areas, with a reduced intensity of press once the ball had reached the channels. Knowing they couldn’t compete against a tough central defence, Spurs repeatedly moved back inside with the ball and Leicester frequently regained possession back in their own half.

A much higher starting position from the front line forced Spurs and Lloris to kick longer, rather than playing out as they set up to do. The midfield rarely won the first or second ball from Lloris’ longer kicks, though, and the visitors soon took control of the game.

With this higher starting position, the back line had to step forward to maintain the team’s overall compactness. This created much more space in behind, and Spurs started to look to play more directly over Leicester’s block. With various runners penetrating in behind, the Foxes soon converted back into a deeper block, aiming to see the first half out. But Son Heung-min’s superb long-range effort put the visitors ahead seconds before the interval.

Leicester once more deployed an aggressive pressing game on Spurs’ midfield unit in the second half, but this was bypassed with deft chipped passes over the first line of pressure. It was individual errors that led to the majority of the visitors’ second-half chances, though, with the ball often needlessly given away in midfield. The second goal came as more inaccurate passing set Spurs free to swiftly punish the hosts on the break.

Leicester’s pressing intentions continued late in the game, with Gray and Maddison the most effective pressers. Their ability to pinch the ball as individuals came into good use in stopping Spurs from dominating the ball and adding to their tally. In the end, though, neither player could threaten the visitors’ goal as the Foxes fell to a disappointing home defeat.