Leicester City striker Emile Heskey ended his four-month goal drought with a
double blast to deal a massive blow to Chelsea's Premiership title hopes.
The England B player hit the target for the first time in 14 matches to keep
the Foxes on course for a UEFA Cup place as they extended their unbeaten run to
seven matches.
Heskey set Martin O'Neill's side on the way after just two minutes - and then
finally killed off a desperately disappointing Chelsea two minutes from time.
Heskey looked back to the kind of form which saw him shoot to prominence as an
18-year-old 18 months ago.
He had pace and power in abundance as well as cool finishing and is doing his
best to stake a late claim to be part of Glenn Hoddle's World Cup plans.
Heskey took the scoring glory but in truth Leicester were in command in all
departments in a match which seldom moved out of second gear.
Chelsea were devoid for long periods of the inspiration which had helped them
sweep aside Arsenal to reach the Coca-Cola Cup final in Gianluca Vialli's first
match in charge.
They looked jaded after their midweek exertions and on this evidence Vialli
may have to revise his decision to scrap the squad rotation policy employed by
his predecessor Ruud Gullit.
Seldom can Chelsea have been as guilty of wasting possession and committing
unforced errors.
They looked shaky at the back, despite a fine individual performance from
Frank Leboeuf, whenever Leicester pumped the ball into their area.
And they failed to get to grips in midfield with a Leicester side who mixed
grit with guile in the form of Neil Lennon and former Chelsea player Muzzy
Izzet.
Leicester were given a dream start after just two minutes with Heskey ending a
goal drought stretching back to October 27.
A corner from Steve Guppy was only half cleared and Lennon headed back into
the danger area as Chelsea stood appealing in vain for offside.
Heskey had time to chest the ball down and calmly drive a low shot wide of
Dmitri Kharine for only his fourth league goal of the campaign.
Leicester caused Chelsea plenty of problems in the air early on with Heskey a
constant threat and Guppy and Rob Savage supplying a string of dangerous
crosses.
Heskey should have done better when he rose above the Chelsea defence at the
near post to send his header wide from Savage's pinpoint cross.
But in general the opening 45 minutes served up poor fare with Chelsea
committing too many errors and struggling to break down Leicester.
A long range effort from skipper Dennis Wise, comfortably dealt with by
Leicester keeper Pegguy Arphexad, represented Chelsea's only on-target effort in
the first half.
But there were a string of yellow cards dished out by referee Paul Durkin with
Lennon and Izzet (Leicester) and Wise, Roberto Di Matteo and Mark Hughes
(Chelsea) all cautioned.
Leicester were again in the driving seat in the second half although the
general standard of play still left a lot to be desired.
It was 20 minutes into the half before either keeper was called into action -
and then Arphexad dealt competently with a long range free-kick from the
impressive Leboeuf.
Leicester had appeals for a penalty turned down after Michael Duberry
challenged Heskey in the area and then the Leicester striker diverted a Guppy
cross just wide.
But he made no mistake in the 88th minute when he fed the ball out to Guppy -
and was on hand to ram the resulting cross into the roof of the net.
Teams
Leicester: Arphexad, Savage (Walsh 25), Guppy, Prior, Elliott,
Kaamark (Campbell 80), Izzet, Lennon, Zagorakis,
Cottee (Fenton 44), Heskey.
Subs Not Used: Andrews, Wilson.
Booked: Lennon, Izzet.
Goals: Heskey 3, 89.
Chelsea: Kharine, Petrescu, Leboeuf, Clarke, Vialli, Hughes,
Wise, Duberry, Le Saux, Di Matteo, Zola (Flo 71).
Subs Not Used: Lambourde, Hitchcock, Nicholls, Newton.
Booked: Wise, Di Matteo, Hughes.
Att: 21,335
Ref: P A Durkin (Portland).
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