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Leicester City 3-1 Leeds United: Foxes fight back to reach last eight

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Highlights of the Carabao Cup fourth-round tie between Leicester City and Leeds United

Leicester City came from behind to clinch a 3-1 home win over Championship side Leeds United in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup.

Leeds opened the scoring after 26 minutes when Pablo Hernandez struck a superb 25-yard strike past motionless Leicester goalkeeper Ben Hamer.

But the Foxes grabbed an equaliser in the 30th minute when Felix Wiedwald rushed off his line to deny Islam Slimani and Kelechi Iheanacho rifled home his first goal for City.

Kelechi Iheanacho equalises for Leicester
Image: Kelechi Iheanacho equalises for Leicester

Player ratings

Leicester City: Hamer (6), Amartey (6), Maguire (7), Dragovic (6), Chilwell (7), Iborra (7), King (6), Albrighton (7), Gray (7), Iheanacho (7), Slimani (6).

Subs: Mahrez (7) Vardy (N/A)

Leeds United: Wiedwald (6), Anita (6), Jansson (6), Shaughnessy (6), Borthwick-Jackson (6), Phillips (7), Klich (6), Roofe (7), Hernandez (7), Cibiki (6), Grot (7)

Subs: Sacko (6), Vieira (6)

Man of the match: Kelechi Iheanacho

Slimani missed a great chance in the second half before tapping City into the lead after 70 minutes and substitute Riyad Mahrez sealed the win in the 88th minute.

Michael Appleton earned his second win of the week as caretaker manager in charge of the Foxes after last week's departure of Craig Shakespeare.

Hernandez hit a long-range strike past Hamer to stun the Premier League side before the half-hour mark.

Team news

Leicester City made eight changes to the side which won at Swansea City. Harry Maguire, Marc Albrighton and Vicente Iborra were the only players to keep their place. Leeds United made ten changes to the team which won at Bristol City with only midfielder Kalvin Phillips retained in the side.

Leicester City's Andy King (R) vies with Leeds United's Pablo Hernandez (L)
Image: Leicester City's Andy King (R) vies with Leeds United's Pablo Hernandez (L)

But the lead did not last long as Wiedwald rushed out of his goal and former Manchester City striker Iheanacho fired his low shot into the unguarded net.

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City ended the half strongly and were denied a second goal after Demarai Gray's rasping strike cannoned off the crossbar.

Slimani spurned a glorious chance to give Leicester the lead in the second half when he missed the target with his header from three yards out.

But the striker made amends when he tapped in to put the Foxes in front after being set up by Iheanacho. Mahrez came off the bench and the Algerian playmaker added the third goal late on with a low strike into the corner of the net.

The managers

Michael Appleton: "There's nothing wrong with that [dreaming of Wembley]. I've had experiences of that over the last couple of seasons personally at a lower level in the Checkatrade Trophy so it is achievable depending on other teams left in the competition.

"But we're in that last eight and we've got an opportunity to get into the last four which is big for the club."

"It's been a difficult week, there's no doubt about that. To lose your manager, things then happened very, very quickly. It certainly would've been a lot worse had we not won the two matches.

"As it stands at the minute, I'm expecting to take the team on Sunday but I know how quickly things can move."

Thomas Christiansen: "We knew about the quality of the Leicester team and I am proud and happy about the performance of the team, especially in the first half.

"We conceded a goal shortly after our goal and maybe if we could have kept the lead until half-time then who knows?

"But we are realistic about who we played against. Ours was a performance of a lot of work and I can't complain."

Man of the match - Kelechi Iheanacho

It has been a tough start to the season for the striker at his new club but he showed signs of promise after getting off the mark for Leicester.

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Iheanacho took his goal really well as he picked his spot and showed composure to find the bottom corner of the net.

He also turned provider with the striker laying on the Foxes' second goal for Slimani during an encouraging performance.

What's next

Managerless Leicester host managerless Everton in the Premier League on Super Sunday, live on Sky Sports Premier League at 4pm, while Leeds host Sheffield United in a Yorkshire derby on Friday evening, also live on Sky Sports Football at 7.45pm.

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