Leicester 3-0 West Brom: Player ratings as Foxes cruise to comfortable win
By Ross Jackson
Leicester City strengthened their bid for a place in next season's Champions League with a convincing 3-0 win over West Brom on Thursday night.
Both sides had glorious opportunities to open the scoring early on, though it was the Foxes who put their spurned chances behind them to hit the front as Jamie Vardy grabbed just his second goal in 15 league outings with an emphatic finish.
Having broken the deadlock, it didn't take long for the home side to double their lead as Jonny Evans powered a header home against his former club before Kelechi Iheanacho slotted home to make the score 3-0 following some fine play from Vardy.
West Brom pushed forward in an attempt to gain a foothold in the game, but with gaps appearing at the back it was Leicester who always looked the more likely to score, as Brendan Rodgers' side saw out a comfortable 3-0 win.
Let's get to those Leicester and West Brom player ratings...
LEICESTER CITY PLAYER RATINGS
1. Goalkeeper & defenders
Kasper Schmeichel (GK) - 6/10 - Given barely anything to do throughout the game bar a simple save from Matt Phillips.
Wesley Fofana (CB) - 6/10 - A little loose with his distribution and was lucky not to be punished by the visitors. Won some big headers late on as West Brom started to throw men forward in search of a late goal.
Caglar Soyuncu (CB) - 6/10 - Solid defensive performance and marshalled Mbaye Diagne well throughout the contest.
Jonny Evans (CB) - 7/10 - Powerful header to double Leicester's lead on the night and barely put a foot wrong when asked to do some rare defending.
2. Wing-backs & midfielders
Timothy Castagne (RWB) - 7/10 - Unlucky to see his shot cannon off the post in the first half and was a constant outlet down the Leicester right-hand side. Very good display as a wing-back and a right-back when he switched positions in the second half.
Youri Tielemans (CM) - 7/10 - His usual silky performance at the heart of the midfield. Seemed to float around the pitch and just proved too good for the West Brom midfield.
Wilfred Ndidi (CM) - 7/10 - Broke up play all game and kept things simple by picking out Tielemans and Maddison.
Luke Thomas (LWB) - 6/10 - Didn't impact the game as much as Timothy Castagne on the opposite flank but was solid enough.
James Maddison (AM) - 8/10 - His first Premier League appearance since being dropped for breaking lockdown rules. Was busy all evening and continued to pop up in pockets of space where the visitors couldn't touch him. Very good return to the side.
3. Forwards
Kelechi Iheanacho (ST) - 7/10 - Should have opened the scoring early on but fluffed his lines when through on goal, though he took his goal well when the next chance presented itself.
Jamie Vardy (ST) - 8/10 - Finally back to scoring ways after an emphatic finish. Did brilliantly in the buildup to Iheanacho's goal and looked like the Vardy of old.
4. Substitutes
Marc Albrighton (RM) - 6/10
Ayoze Perez (AM) - 6/10
Dennis Praet (CM) - N/A
WEST BROM PLAYER RATINGS
5. Goalkeeper & defenders
Sam Johnstone (GK) - 5/10 - Missed just one league game for West Brom this season but he'll have been wishing he'd missed this one. Nothing he could do about any of the Leicester strikes but more goals to add to the conceded column for the campaign.
Darnell Furlong (RB) - 6/10 - It says a lot when you hear this man was one of West Brom's biggest attacking threats. Popped up in decent positions when the visitors had a set piece but couldn't provide any real quality.
Dara O'Shea (CB) - 5/10 - Given the runaround by both Leicester strikers and ended up chasing shadows for much of the contest. Did make a couple of timely blocks but a poor display on the whole.
Kyle Bartley (CB) - 5/10 - Couldn't handle the pace of Vardy and much like his central defensive partner will probably still be feeling dizzy tomorrow morning.
Conor Townsend (LB) - 5/10 - Offered very little in an attacking sense and was left exposed defensively.
6. Midfielders
Matt Phillips (RM) - 6/10 - Offered a little more than his midfield colleagues though speculative efforts were about as good as it got.
Okay Yokuslu (CM) - 5/10 - Allowed James Maddison a criminal amount of time on the ball and the England man basically just ran the game.
Ainsley Maitland-Niles (CM) - 6/10 - Did plenty of running and added some enthusiasm but he barely got near the Leicester midfield.
Callum Robinson (LM) - 5/10 - Well he wasn't playing against Chelsea so what did you expect? Pretty passive in the first half and was removed at half-time.
Matheus Pereira (AM) - 4/10 - Seems to be either absolutely brilliant or absolutely anonymous - there's no middle ground. You can probably guess which category this performance fell into by his rating.
7. Forward
Mbaye Diagne (ST) - 5/10 - Totally isolated and even when he did manage to keep hold of the ball there wasn't a teammate within 15 yards of him.
8. Substitutes
Semi Ajayi (CB) - 6/10
Hal Robson-Kanu (ST) - 6/10
Karlan Grant (ST) - 5/10