Sheffield United vs Leicester City. Premier League.
Bramall LaneAttendance30,079.
Report and highlights as Sheffield United club-record signing Oli McBurnie scores his first Premier League goal
Saturday 24 August 2019 18:06, UK
A superb Harvey Barnes strike sealed Leicester's first Premier League win of the season, beating Sheffield United 2-1 at Bramall Lane.
Sheffield-born Jamie Vardy (38) had scored a fine opener in the first half, but it was cancelled out by Oli McBurnie, nodding home his first Premier League goal in the 62nd minute.
Sheffield United looked to be on top and it took a sensational strike from substitute Barnes to beat them. He hammered the ball into the back of the net on the half-volley to give Leicester their first victory of the new campaign.
The win sees Leicester jump 10 places into fourth, while Sheffield United drop one place into ninth as their unbeaten start to the season comes to an end.
The first half had very few chances, with Leicester going closest in the 17th minute. Youri Tielemans put in a great cross from the right flank, searching for Vardy at the back post. However, he swung his header well wide.
Sheffield United then had a few half-chances, with John Lundstram - who scored against Crystal Palace last weekend - firing over the crossbar with a long range effort, before George Baldock's thrashing volley went straight at Kasper Schmeichel.
But it was Leicester who struck the first blow in the 38th minute, and it was Sheffield Wednesday fan Vardy to do so. Chris Basham's poor pass was latched onto by James Maddison, who slid a sensational ball into the path of the striker with his first touch. Vardy set himself up before hammering the ball into the middle of the net and goading the home fans with his celebration.
Leicester could have doubled their lead eight minutes into the second half. Ayoze Perez hit Sheffield United on the break, before slotting the ball through for Maddison. He picked out Vardy at the back post, who in turn nodded the ball back across for the incoming Perez. However, he was unable to net himself, squaring it back for Vardy, but the striker was unable to get there as the ball ran wide.
Just after the hour mark, Sheffield United's club-record signing McBurnie opened his account for the season. The hosts had been piling on the pressure since the break and it was a wonderful cross from Baldock that McBurnie rose to meet, powering a header past Schmeichel before wheeling away for an enthusiastic celebration.
The Blades looked the more likely to go on and win the game, but eight minutes later, they were sucker-punched by a truly wonderful goal. Barnes had been bought on as a Leicester reply to the equaliser and repaid the faith soon after. Caglar Soyuncu nodded the ball his way and he thundered a half-volley through the area with his first touch, leaving Dean Henderson rooted to the spot.
Sheffield United's best chance for another leveller came in the 76th minute, but they were thwarted by a wonderful Schmeichel save. McBurnie nodded down a cross into the path of Lundstram, who thought he had scored as he turned the ball goalwards, but the Leicester goalkeeper got down to push the effort away as the Foxes got their first three points of the season.
Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder: "We got beaten by an excellent side with a wonderful goal to win it. We didn't ask enough questions of them in the first half but we did in the second, we pushed them back a little bit and got ourselves back onto level terms.
"We then gave the ball away cheaply, which was a disappointing aspect of our game today. We're usually better in possession. We turned the ball over to really good players and you're going to get punished and boy, didn't we.
"We scored a wonderful equaliser from our point of view and then I expected us to go on and cause a few more problems, but we never really built that momentum up. When we went behind, we're chasing, and they've got some really good players.
"We're playing against a team tipped to get into the top six and we didn't deserve to win today. It wasn't a performance good enough to get a result and we have to dust ourselves down because we have a major challenge next week at Stamford Bridge."
Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers: "It's a very, very good win for us. We had to really earn that and show a lot of different things in terms of fight, resilience and quality.
"We expected a really tough game, Chris and his team have created great momentum in these last couple of years here so coming here this early in the season after their win last week was going to be tough for us.
"Harvey has got wonderful ability. He made a big impact in the Championship and he is feeling his way into the Premier League. The goal today shows that quality that he has, it was a sensational strike and I'm so happy. For that to be the winning goal, it was deserving.
"We put in a good performance, but there are areas we can be better in but it is an important three points."
Leicester needed a solid defence at Bramall Lane, especially in the second half, and Soyuncu was a big part of that with the stats to back it up.
He seemed to continually be in the right place at the right time, and had the joint-highest number of clearances (8) and tackles (4) of any player on the field. He was also involved in the most duels (18) with 11 of those being aerial, which was again the highest number of the game.
Away from his defensive work, he assisted Barnes' goal - although it's not clear how much he knew about it - and is proving to be more than a worthy replacement for Harry Maguire.
Both teams are in Carabao Cup action in midweek, with Sheffield United hosting Blackburn on Tuesday before Leicester travel to Newcastle the following day. In the Premier League next Saturday, Sheffield United will face Chelsea while Leicester welcome Bournemouth.
