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Leicester City moved up to third with a 2-0 victory over Birmingham City thanks to goals in either half from Abdul Fatawu and Ricardo Pereira.
The hosts came into the game in decent form, getting back to winning ways last weekend with a tidy 1-0 win away at Charlton Athletic. This got them out of bad period, after losing to Preston and getting knocked out to League One side Huddersfield Town after their season opener against Sheffield Wednesday.
Blues were looking to bounce back from a disappointing 1-0 loss to Port Vale in the week, though before tonight they hadn’t lost a game in the Championship, taking seven points from nine to start off the campaign.
Both sides made one change from their wins last weekend- Martí Cifuentes gave Stephy Mavididi his third start of the season in place of young starlet Jeremy Monga, while Chris Davies replaced the injured Jay Stansfield with new loanee Lewis Koumas after he joined from Liverpool in the week.
Cifuentes’s side came storming out the blocks, dominating possession from the offset and settling into a good rhythm. This early dominance would be rewarded in the 8th minute, where some neat passing worked the ball to star winger Abdul Fatawu on the right hand side. The Ghanian took it past a couple of defenders with ease onto his right foot, working the space for a shot that flew into the top right-hand corner, leaving Ryan Allsopp rooted to the spot.
The West Midlands side would dominate proceedings from here, getting their first glimpses of the ball after going 1-0 down. It seemed like luck wasn’t on their side when winger Demari Gray went down holding his shoulder in the 13th minute, but the Jamaican was okay to carry on after some attention. It seemed his day was done when he went down again just 12 minutes after, but once again showed a willingness to carry on.
The first half quietly drew to a close after this, with 20 minutes of Chris Davies’s side controlling possession nicely but failing to create any clear-cut chances. In fact, his side wouldn’t take any shots on target in the first 45, making it a more than comfortable half for Leicester stopper Jakub Stolarczyk.
It was almost a nightmare start to the second half though, after Cristoph Klarer misjudged a back-pass to Allsopp and in an attempt to usher it back to the veteran goalie, almost lost out to an oncoming Jordan Ayew. The German was able to switch on at the last moment to prod the ball out of his path, denying what would have been a certain goal had he not intervened much later than he should have.
The first of four Leicester subs came in the 56th minute, as youngster Louis Page was replaced by Patson Daka as the Foxes looked to get more a grip in the game to protect their lead. Shortly after, goalscorer Abdul Fatawu would be added to the book, but was quickly joined by Kyogo Furuhashi and Cristoph Klarer.
Keshi Anderson replaced Willium Williumsson for Birmingham’s first sub of the game as they searched for an equaliser. The second half wasn’t as straightforward as the first half for them though, with both sides sharing chances despite Blues continuing to dominate possession.
Jeremy Monga and Ricardo Pereira were brought on in the 72nd minute to help Leicester claim the three points, and despite Tommy Doyle, Marvin Ducksch and Lyndon Dykes coming on to grab the equaliser, it would be the two Leicester subs who made the difference as they combined to double their side’s advantage.
Down the left-flank he’s become familiar with since his emergence last season, Monga picked up the ball after a quick one-two and created some space by the by-line. His delicate cross found an arriving Periera, who slammed home from close range for his first goal since February 2024.
Nine minutes of added time encouraged a late push for the visitors, but thanks to the late substitute of Wout Faes shortly before Pereira’s goal Leicester were able to sit deep and reject everything Birmingham threw their way, though it was nothing to trying for them to deal with.
Leicester will look to continue their winning ways in a couple of weeks when they visit the Kassam Stadium to face Oxford United, while Birmingham not turn their attention to a Midlands derby as they take on Stoke in two weekends time also.
