Leicester City drew 0-0 with Burnley in an emotional game at the King Power Stadium.
The meeting was Leicester’s first home game since the tragic death of their owner, Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, and four others in a helicopter crash two weeks ago.
Before the match, thousands of fans marched from Jubilee Square in Leicester city centre to the King Power in honour of Vichai; amongst the mourners were Leicester players Harry Maguire and James Maddison – a nice touch from the members of the squad.
Before kick-off, there was an impeccably observed two-minute silence to honour those who tragically lost their lives two weeks ago as well as to remember those who gave their lives in the war. Leicester presented everybody with a commemorative scarf which every fan held aloft during the silence, a goosebump moment within the King Power Stadium.
It seems trite to talk about the football and the match itself when you consider the context of its occasion. However, the Leicester players turned up and did their job like professionals and did their city and their late owner proud.
Leicester fail to score for the first time this season
This was the first Premier League game in which Leicester have failed to score in this season. The Foxes were averaging 1.5 goals a game up until this match and they should have really scored at least one to continue their impressive run of scoring in games.
They started brightly with Jamie Vardy having a shot cleared off the line and Rachid Ghezzal heading against the crossbar. However, it seemed that Leicester tired as the game wore on and the match ran away from them. The emotional and physical strains of the last week have been a lot for the players with most of the squad only arriving back to the UK a few days ago after visiting Thailand to pay their final respects at Srivaddhanaprabha’s funeral.
Burnley’s defence holds firm
Before this game, Burnley had conceded 13 goals in their last three league matches. This is obviously not an ideal number of goals to be shipping in the Premier League. Dyche will be heartened that his side managed to keep a clean sheet on Saturday against a team with potent attacking threats. An element of luck may have played its part but in this industry, but you take what you are given. He may be frustrated that his team did not create so many chances but for now, he will be content with just not conceding.
What are Leicester’s ambitions?
Leicester can probably be considered one of the Premier League’s only clubs who are in no real danger of being relegated and also not likely to push for the title or European spots (Yes yes I know Leicester won the Premier League at odds of 5000-1 and no one expected that but I think we can all agree that’s even less likely to happen nowadays.)
Whilst Leicester’s management will be very happy at their security in Premier League it does make you wonder what exactly they are aiming for this season. Will finishing 12th be a disappointment if finishing 10th is expected? Will finishing in a Europa League spot be seen as such a great success as it was for Burnley last season? Who knows. It is fair to say that the international break has come at a good time for the Foxes and will allow most to unwind after the emotional past few weeks.
