Leicester City 4:0 Fleetwood Town
City cruised into the third round of the Carabao Cup beating a weakened Fleetwood Town side 4-0 at the KPS on Tuesday evening.
Although Claude Puel made eight changes to his side it was still a strong looking line-up, and Joey Barton made it clear that his priorities lay elsewhere, changing his entire starting XI.
Fleetwood, with their meagre following of around 100, had an early chance when Long’s shot forced Ward into a save, but the City keeper had very little to do for the rest of the night.
The 10,000 who had turned up were rewarded in the 8th minute when Fuchs crashed home a beautifully struck half-volley from 25 yards.
Two minutes later Iheanacho chased a long ball through the visitors’ defence but sent his low shot against the right hand post, the rebound going straight into Jones’s arms.
Fleetwood sat back and frustrated City for a while. Iheanacho missed another chance from close-in under a heavy challenge.
City doubled their lead in the 39th minute when Iborra found room in a crowded area to nod home Fuchs’ cross from the left, and put the game beyond doubt.
Iheanacho’s frustrating night continued. After an Okazaki volley had forced a good save from Jones, Ghezzal chipped a cross in from the right and Iheanacho headed it against the outside of the left hand post when well-placed.
But Iheanacho only had to wait for ten seconds after the restart to get onto the scoresheet. Straight from the kick-off Albrighton sent Iheanacho in on goal with a well-judged ball forward and the Nigerian fired it through the legs of the advancing Jones.
Five minutes later Iheanacho was brought off, with Gray replacing him up front.
Ghezzal then cut in from the right and curled a shot from the edge of the area narrowly over the bar.
Fleetwood were hardly getting a touch at this point as City players queued up to have a shot on goal. Albrighton had a couple of ambitious efforts blocked and Gray was denied by a Jones save.
The 62nd minute saw Puel’s second change, with Benkovic replacing Morgan at the centre of the defence.
He didn’t have a lot to do, with Fleetwood pinned in their own half, and City went 4-0 up in the 71st minute. Ghezzal repeated his trick of cutting in from the right, he exchanged a one-two with Silva, and then sent a superb 25-yarder sailing over Jones and into the net.
Ghezzal then became the second scorer to be withdrawn, replaced by Diabaté.
City pursued a fifth goal, but Albrighton had a shot tipped round the post and Gray went one-on-one with Jones, but was denied by the busy Fleetwood keeper and they had to be content with 4-0.
It was an entertaining display from City, with a couple of excellent goals, but you have to wonder about the future of this competition when a League One side make eleven changes to their side.
Leicester: Ward, Amartey, Morgan (Benkovic 62), Evans, Fuchs, Iborra, Adrien Silva, Ghezzal (Diabaté 76), Okazaki, Albrighton, Iheanacho (Gray 50)
Substitutes: Maddison, Jakupovic, Mendy, Knight.
Fleetwood: Jones, Jones, Bolger, Spurr, Maguire (Madden 61), Grant (Wallace 67), Biggins, Sheron, Dempsey, Long (Hill 61), McAleny.
Substitutes: Cairns, Holt, Eastham, Burns.
Referee: Lee Mason. Attendance: 10,671.
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