Leicester City v Nottingham Forest: Premier League – live | Premier League

49 min “Not just the full-backs,” says Kári Tulinius. “What struck me especially now was how poor Kouyaté was. He was so good for Senegal and Crystal Palace. But yes, Williams and Lodi are also nowhere near how good they have been in the past.”

I don’t know how you can expect to succeed with almost an entirely new squad. The Premier League is hard enough for promoted teams anyway.

48 min “So,” says Rob Hisnay, “moving to Forest doesn’t look like a good career move for Lingard and Henderson.”

Henderson will be fine but you fear for Lingard. He turns 30 in December, the day after the second World Cup semi-final, and it feels a long time ago that he played in a semi-final himself.

47 min Barnes curls a low shot towards the far corner that is comfortably saved by the diving Henderson.

46 min Peep peep! Leicester have made a half-time change as well, Boubakary Soumare for Wilfred Ndidi.

Forest are making a triple substitution. Serge Aurier, Ryan Yates and Remo Freueler are on for Lewis O’Brien, Cheikhou Kouyate and Neco Williams.

“Our defenders knew each other from last season,” says Simon Frank. “Maybe we should sign some new ones (yawn).”

I assumed he meant the full-backs. I do have a bit of sympathy for Forest – they had to sign more new players than most because of all the loans last season, not to mention the demands of the Premier League. But this is all a bit of a mess, and it’ll be even worse if they sack the manager.

Half-time reading

Half time: Leicester 3-0 Nottingham Forest

43 min Leicester break dangerously down the right, with Vardy’s cross put behind by Lodi. Maddison’s corner isn’t the best.

39 min Lingard has a chance to get one back for Forest, but he takes one touch too many and his shot from 15 yards is blocked by Tielemans. The chance came after a terrific, driving run from Johnson in the inside-right channel. He squared it to Lingard, who was a bit too indecisive.

38 min “Clearly the big takeaway from Forest’s return to the Premier League is don’t try to buy an entire new squad over the summer,” says Kári Tulinius. “However, the defenders still play as if they met five minutes before the game started. There should be some coherence after two months.”

36 min That’s Maddison’s 50th goal for Leicester. I could happily watch him play football (and do post-match interviews, for that matter, because he’s equally great at those) for the rest of my days.

It was a brilliant free-kick from Maddison, curled across goal and into the net via the inside of the post. Maddison is such an infectious, stylish footballer, and he has been irresistible tonight.

GOAL! Leicester 3-0 Nottm Forest (Maddison 35)

34 min“I was fully expecting Maddison to break out his patented darting celebration considering the darts World Grand Prix is taking place as we speak fewer than three miles down the road from the King Power Stadium,” says J.R. in Illinois. “How disappointing.”

Ssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhh! I want to watch that on delay when this is over.

33 min Dewsbury-Hall surges forward and is fouled on the edge of the D by Kouyate. He’s booked. Forest are getting a bit of a chasing here.

31 min Vardy shoots straight at Henderson, though he was offside anyway. It’s all Leicester at the moment.

29 min Kneejerk department: Leicester have some winnable games coming up as well.

Vardy ran down the left, onto a long pass, and then fed it back to Barnes on the edge of the area. He moved Williams one way and then the other before flashing a curling shot into the far corner. Henderson had no chance.

GOAL! Leicester 2-0 Nottm Forest (Barnes 27)

It took a big deflection, but Maddison won’t care. A dreadful clearance from Lingard went straight to Maddison on the edge of the D. He opened his body to curl a shot that hit McKenna and wrongfooted Henderson. After seeing a replay I’m not 100 per cent sure Maddison’s shot was on target, so it may yet go down as an own goal.

GOAL! Leicester 1-0 Nottm Forest (Maddison 25)

22 min: Awoniyi hits the post! Out of nothing, Forest almost take the lead. Lingard played a good pass through the lines to Gibbs-White, who stabbed an even better one past Faes to put Awoniyi through on goal. He sidefooted the ball past Ward and it hit the base of the left-hand post.

20 min Good game, this.

19 min A fast, flat free-kick from Maddison just evades Vardy on the six-yard line. At the other end, Gibbs-White’s through ball is poked wide by Johnson, who was put off by the outrushing Ward. I think Johnson was offside anyway.

17 min Williams is booked for handball. He’s a bit unfortunate, although he probably should have been booked earlier. IT ALL EVENS ITSELF OUT OVER THE COURSE OF A SEASON.

16 min Leicester’s schemers, Barnes and Maddison, look really bright.

15 min Another chance for Vardy, who shoots straight at Henderson after being put through superbly by Barnes. The angle was fairly tight, to the left of the area, and he couldn’t shape the ball towards the far corner.

14 min Maddison drops the resulting free-kick onto the head of Vardy, who heads wide of the near post from 12 yards. It wasn’t the eaiest chance, as the ball was slightly behind him when he made contact.

13 min Williams is fortunate to avoid a yellow card after chopping down Barnes. Leicester are starting to take control of the game.

12 min The lively Maddison finds Dewsbury-Hall in a bit of space, 25 yards from goal. He pushes the ball forward and thrashes a rising drive that goes a few yards wide of the far post. It looked closer than it was.

11 min Nowt comes of the corner.

10 min Justin’s shot from the edge of the area takes a deflection and loops overthe bar. It’s been an open start to the game, which isn’t always the case when the bottom two play each other. I suppose the main problem for both teams this season has been defence rather than attack.

8 min Ndidi is penalised, probably a little harshly, for a challenge on Johnson just outside the area on the right. Lodi smashes the free-kick into the crowd and Vardy heads behind for a corner.

6 min This is the revised Forest formation: Henderson; Williams, Cook, McKenna, Lodi; Kouyate, O’Brien; Johnson, Gibbs-White, Lingard; Awoniyi.

5 min: Chance for Leicester! Lovely play from Maddison, who sits Lodi down on the right side of the area and teases a deep cross that is headed just wide by Dewsbury-Hall. He should have scored.

3 min “A proposal,” says Kevin Gier. “Every game involving Forest vs another Midlands team has to be introduced with the old ATV Star Soccer theme. It just fits with Forest.”

2 min Johnson wins an early corner for Forest on the right. Gibbs-White’s outswinger is headed away to O’Brien, 20 yards out. He drives a shot that hits Evans and goes behind for another corner.

1 min Forest have indeed switched to 4-2-3-1, with Kouyate and O’Brien in midfield.

1 min Peep peep! Leicester kick off from left to right as we watch.

The players are ready for action, and there’s a cracking atmosphere at the King Power Stadium. These teams don’t love one another.

Previously on…

“Another loss here for the Foxes and surely its time for Dyche,” says Gary Kennedy.

I love Dyche but is he the right fit for this group of players?

“Leicester have several problems,” says Jonathan Tasker. “But the biggest may be the loss of Kasper Schmeichel. Danny Ward is nowhere near good enough.”

They really miss his leadership too.

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