Leicester City 1-2 Chelsea: Jackson and Fernandez mark a happy return for Maresca

Chelsea came through a nervy finish to beat Leicester City 2-1 at the King Power Stadium on Saturday.

Enzo Maresca guided Leicester to promotion last season before switching allegiance to Chelsea, who returned to winning ways after two successive draws in the Premier League.

Nicolas Jackson and Enzo Fernandez were on the scoresheet for the Blues as Jordan Ayew’s stoppage-time penalty proved only to be a consolation for the hosts.

The visitors dominated early on and Jackson’s brilliant outside-of-the-foot finish past Mads Hermansen gave them the lead in the 15th minute.

Jackson was involved in Chelsea’s second, too, as his header was saved by Hermansen, only for Fernandez to nod home the rebound in the 75th minute.

Ayew made no mistake from the spot to set up a grandstand finale, but third-place Chelsea held firm to move to within a point of Manchester City, prior to the reigning Premier League champions’ clash with Tottenham later on Saturday, while Leicester dropped down to 16th.

ALL THREE POINTS! #CFC | #LEICHE pic.twitter.com/Q7CbO0MWyf

— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) November 23, 2024

Data Debrief: Jackson’s five

Jackson left the King Power Stadium with a goal and also played a part in Chelsea’s second, once again proving his worth for Maresca’s side.

His opener for the Blues was his seventh Premier League goal of the season and the most by a Chelsea player.

No player in the English top-flight has scored more goals (five) or been involved in more goals (seven, including two assists) in away games this season than Jackson.

Chelsea, meanwhile, have scored in each of their last 11 league games, scoring 23 goals in that run.

They could have had more on Saturday as they finished the game with 16 shots, seven of which were on target, and an expected goals of 2.64, compared to Leicester’s xG of 1.11.