Leicester City Opinion: Youri Tielemans was the star against Bournemouth
Leicester City romped home to a comfortable 2-0 victory over Bournemouth at the King Power Stadium on Saturday, courtesy of goals from Wes Morgan and Jamie Vardy on either side of the halfway mark.
The Foxes registered their third consecutive victory under new manager Brendan Rodgers and climbed up to 8th in the standings, having already beaten Burnley and Fulham in their last two Premier League fixtures.
Morgan brought up his second goal in as many games to give Leicester the upper hand in the tie. Callum Wilson’s effort drew a magnificent save from Kasper Schmeichel but that was pretty much the only realistic chance that Bournemouth had throughout the game.
The Foxes had multiple chances to increase their advantage but they couldn’t manage to capitalise on their opportunities. James Maddison fired his shot wide while Jamie Vardy missed the simplest of tap-ins to give the Foxes an unassailable lead going into half time.
Leicester continued their dominance in the second half and Vardy put the game to bed with eight minutes remaining, heading it in off Youri Tieleman’s perfectly-weighted lobbed pass.
While Vardy once again got his name on the scoresheet and stole the limelight, it was Youri Tielemans who was arguably Leicester’s star performer of the day.
The Belgian has been a revelation in the Premier League since his loan move from Monaco in January and he strengthened his claims for earning a permanent deal at the end of the season with another fine display in the midfield.
As a matter of fact, Tielemans has been at the centre of everything that Leicester have achieved in recent weeks. It would not be an understatement to specify that he is one of the key reasons behind the Foxes’ making a late surge for a Europa League playoff spot.
Brendan Rodgers has certainly managed to extract the best out of him by playing him in a more advanced role alongside the likes of Harvey Barnes, James Maddison and Demarai Gray.
Leicester’s central midfield duo of Wilfred Ndidi and Nampalys Mendy looked rather pedestrian in Claude Puel’s 4-2-3-1 system, with lack of creativity becoming a marked weakness in their game.
However, the arrival of Tielemans has changed the whole complexion of the midfield and Leicester now look a completely different unit with the Belgian in their side.
Tielemans has contributed with a goal and 3 assists from 7 appearances in the Premier League, which are incredible returns for a 21-year-old who has never had a taste of English football before.
Tielemans not only assisted Vardy’s goal with a perfect lobbed pass but he contributed with a total of 3 key passes against Bournemouth.
Playing as one of the two main creative outlets in attacking midfield alongside Maddison, Tielemans played a total of 70 passes with an accuracy percentage of 89.
He not only made good use of possession but also didn’t hesitate to pull the strings whenever the opportunity presented itself, registering a total of 3 attempts on goal, though neither of them was on target.
The Belgian lit up the scene with his wonderful eye for picking out passes and ability to break the lines with his creativity, completing 6 out of his 8 attempted long balls.
To go with his flawless passing, Tielemans’ display against Bournemouth once again highlighted his ability to make space for himself with dribbles and take-ons in the midfield.
The youngster successfully completed 2 attempted dribbles and won 5 out of 7 duels on the pitch. Furthermore, Tielemans also chipped in with a tackle and put his body on the line to block a shot, stats which speak volumes of his uncompromised work-rate as a midfielder.
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Hence, it is quite clear that Tielemans has worked wonders for Leicester City and the Foxes should continue to bank on him to deliver the goods in the final few weeks of the season.
It has been reported that the Foxes would need to stump up £40million to make his stay permanent, and although that would be a club-record amount for them, they should not hesitate to strike a deal for the Belgian maestro in the summer.
