Leicester enjoy home comforts once more to move into top 10

Leicester cruised to a comfortable 3-0 victory over Watford to seal Premier League safety.
The Foxes secured a fifth straight home win in the top flight to climb into the division’s top 10 after goals from Wilfred Ndidi, Riyad Mahrez and Marc Albrighton.

It was also boss Craig Shakespeare’s eighth win in 13 games in charge and only Tottenham (24) have earned more points than Leicester’s 22 since he took over in February.
The outgoing champions, who also hit the woodwork twice, moved up to ninth as Watford dropped to 15th following a fifth successive away defeat without scoring.
The Hornets’ end-of-season form will be a concern as they slipped to a seventh defeat in their last 11 outings.

Tweet of the match

Star man – Marc Albrighton

The winger was a bundle of energy and fully deserved his goal right at the death to make it 3-0. He was at the heart of most of Leicester’s good play, having a hand in their opener, and his overall work-rate almost deserved man of the match alone. Albrighton is continually underrated and is so useful to the way Leicester play and will continue to be key going forward.

Moment of the match

Ndidi thundered in the opener with five minutes to go before the break to give Leicester the lead and break the deadlock. The midfielder cashed in after Etienne Capoue failed to clear Danny Drinkwater’s chipped cross after Albrighton’s short corner. It was his third goal for Leicester since joining in January and set the Foxes on their way to a fifth straight home league win.

Stat of the match

Ndidi’s goal meant Watford went into half-time trailing – a bad omen for the travelling Hornets given their second-half hoodoo. They have now not won a Premier League game when behind at the break in 55 attempts – 48 defeats and seven draws. Walter Mazzarri’s side are all-but safe this season but will need to turn that stat around to ensure they do not get dragged into a scrap next year.

Player ratings

Leicester: Kasper Schmeichel: 6, Danny Simpson: 6, Yohan Benalouane: 6, Robert Huth: 6, Christian Fuchs: 6, Marc Albrighton: 8, Danny Drinkwater: 6, Wilfred Ndidi: 7, Riyad Mahrez: 8, Shinji Okazaki: 6, Jamie Vardy: 6. Subs: Islam Slimani (for Okazaki): 6, Andy King (for Drinkwater): 6, Demarai Gray (for Mahrez): 6.

Watford: Heurelho Gomes: 6, Adrian Mariappa: 6, Sebastian Prodl: 6, Christian Kabasele: 6, Nordin Amrabat: 6, Abdoulaye Doucoure: 6, Tom Cleverley: 6, Etieene Capoue: 6, Daryl Janmaat: 6, M’Baye Niang: 6, Stefano Okaka: 6. Subs: Troy Deeney (for Capoue): 6, Juan Zuniga (for Kabasele): 6, Dion Pereira (for Niang): 6.

Up next?

Everton v Watford (Premier League, Friday, May 12)
Manchester City v Leicester (Premier League, Saturday, May 13)

PA

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