Leicester v West Brom: Premier League – live!

4.04pm EDT 16:04

46 mins: The second half has begun, and there has been one halftimely change: West Brom have taken Robinson off, and brought Ajayi on.

4.03pm EDT 16:03

West Brom’s players are sent out early for the second half, and for at least a minute or two they are the best team on the pitch. Then Leicester come out to join them.

3.57pm EDT 15:57

Iheanacho’s missed one-on-one; Castagne hitting the post; Iheanacho blazing over the bar from eight yards. West Brom are extraordinarily lucky to be only three goals down at the break, but surely can’t be that bat in the second half.

3.56pm EDT 15:56

Selected half-time stats:

Possession: 73-27Shots: 12-2Shots on target: 6-1Passes completed: 338-90

3.49pm EDT 15:49

Half time: Leicester 3-0 West Bromwich Albion

45+3 mins: That’s half time. Leicester have scored three and could have had five; West Brom’s players are in for a hell of a rollicking.

3.48pm EDT 15:48

45+2 mins: Schmeichel has to do a thing! Fofana give the ball away, West Brom attack and Phillips has a shot from the edge of the D that goes straight to the Leicester keeper.

3.46pm EDT 15:46

45+1 mins: A West Brom player – Yokuslu, I think – has just tackled someone, Maddison in this case. I genuinely can’t remember the last time it happened.

3.44pm EDT 15:44

42 mins: Terrible, terrible miss! Leicester’s attack is really very good: Evans hits an excellent long pass to Thomas on the left, who touches back to Maddison. He lifts the ball deep into the area, and Castagne nods back across where it comes off Tielemans and drops to Iheanacho, who has the entire goal to aim at from eight yards and clears the bar by a distance!

3.40pm EDT 15:40

39 mins: West Brom have been almost bizarrely appalling tonight, though I suppose there’s still time for a comeback.

3.38pm EDT 15:38

GOAL! Leicester 3-0 West Brom (Iheanacho, 36 mins)

It’s three! Vardy runs down the right, cuts inside O’Shea, draws Bartley and squares to Iheanacho, who has enough space to take a touch, force Townsend to commit with a little dummy, and then stroke into the net.

Kelechi Iheanacho makes it three for the Foxes. Photograph: Tim Keeton/Reuters

Updated at 3.42pm EDT

3.37pm EDT 15:37

35 mins: Now West Brom hit the bar. It’s a corner from the right, which Pereira curls over Schmeichel, onto the bar and out of play.

3.35pm EDT 15:35

33 mins: Save! Maddison cuts onto his left foot and from 22 yards or so sends a shot straight at Johnstone.

3.32pm EDT 15:32

30 mins: Castagne lifts the ball into the area, and Vardy lets it drop over his right shoulder before mishitting a volley which bobbles wide, and it turns out he was marginally offside anyway.

3.31pm EDT 15:31

28 mins: Leicester hit the post! West Brom are all over the place at the moment, unrecognisable from the side that put 10-man Chelsea to the sword in their last away game. Castagne has the freedom of the entire right half of the field and is released by a simple pass, advances to the edge of the area and sends a low shot into the meat of the woodwork!

3.28pm EDT 15:28

GOAL! Leicester 2-0 West Brom (Evans, 26 mins)

And another! Leicester win a corner on the right, and play it low to Vardy, whose first-time shot deflects wide. The next corner is sent to the near post, where it misses two blue shirts, hits the unsighted and entirely unaware Phillips and loops to the far post, where Evans heads in!

Jonny Evans doubles the lead for the Foxes. Photograph: Tim Keeton/Reuters

Updated at 3.30pm EDT

3.25pm EDT 15:25

GOAL! Leicester 1-0 West Brom (Vardy, 23 mins)

Lovely goal from Leicester! Tieleman’s through-ball to Castagne was superb, he squares to Vardy, and from the edge of the area he sends Johnstone the wrong way before side-footing into the now-unguarded net!

Jamie Vardy gives Leicester the lead. Photograph: Michael Regan/Getty Images

Updated at 3.27pm EDT

3.21pm EDT 15:21

19 mins: The ball is played over the defence to Iheanacho, whose first touch is poor and takes him wide on the left, and whose remaining touches are all excellent as he nutmegs Furlong and ghosts past O’Shea, before Johnstone turns his low centre behind for a corner.

3.19pm EDT 15:19

17 mins: Leicester continue their search for a decent final ball, this time Maddison floating one into the box and over Vardy, which Johnstone collects.

3.17pm EDT 15:17

15 mins: Leicester keep the ball for a while before Vardy invites Castagne to have a run down the right but he loses his race to the ball with Townsend.

3.12pm EDT 15:12

11 mins: Leicester appear to have worked out that they are much less likely to concede if they don’t let West Brom have the ball.

3.09pm EDT 15:09

9 mins: Vardy sets up Maddison for a shot, but the pass forces him a bit wide and his left-foot shot is blocked and, worse, rebounds back into him before going off the pitch.

3.08pm EDT 15:08

8 mins: Soyuncu accidentally slides some studs down Maitland-Niles’ ankle, and the West Brom midfielder needs a bit of time to decide if he’s actually injured or just a bit sore.

3.07pm EDT 15:07

6 mins: This has been an extremely promising start. More like this please.

3.06pm EDT 15:06

4 mins: Chance for West Brom! A cross from the right is headed meekly to Pereira, who slides the ball first-time to Diagne, just outside the six-yard box, but the forward swings his foot and completely missed the ball!

3.04pm EDT 15:04

3 mins: Terrible miss from in-form Iheanacho! The Leicester forward robs a defender just inside the West Brom half and runs clear on goal, but he takes a bad touch which gives Johnstone a chance to narrow the angles, so he tries to take it round the keeper and fails!

3.00pm EDT 15:00

1 min: Peeeeep! West Brom, in their yellow and red away kit, get the game started.

2.57pm EDT 14:57

The teams are on their way out. In other news, Wilfred Ndidi is really good at leapfrog.

Leicester’s Wilfred Ndidi warms up for the Premier League match between Leicester City and West Bromwich Albion. Photograph: Michael Regan/EPA

2.48pm EDT 14:48

Brendan Rodgers does too. He doesn’t say anything very interesting, though. Tonight’s it’s business as usual,” he says. “Every game is a big game, and tonight’s another big game for us.” And on the Super League: “Thankfully the supporters’ voices have been heard. It was alarming, I think that was the best way to describe it. We’re a nation where the supporters’ voices are everything, and hopefully it’ll go away.

2.36pm EDT 14:36

Sam Allardyce has a chat:

It’s a difficult ask, obviously. They’re on a high, qualifying for the FA Cup final. As ever, we’ve got to really focus on what we’ve achieved in the last two games and try to hit that level of performance again and be very clinical when a chance arrives. If we can play as well as we know we can, then I think we’ve got a chance.

And on the Super League business:

It’s not gone. We haven’t won yet. These guys have been plotting for many years. I’ve been speaking to lots of owners that I’ve managed, and they’ve all been well aware about what’s happening, in terms of those big boys trying to get more of the pot, more of the money. Now they’ve tried this way, they’ll try another way I’m sure. Hopefully they’ll put the regulations together in the right way so it can’t happen again.

2.30pm EDT 14:30

Some pre-match reading, in the shape of a Guardian editorial on that Super League thing.

The Guardian view on football’s failed super league: hit back hard | Editorial

2.30pm EDT 14:30

Kasper Schmeichel is looking chirpy.

Leicester’s goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel stretches during the warm up before the Premier League match between Leicester and West Bromwich Albion at the King Power Stadium. Photograph: Rui Vieira/AP

2.06pm EDT 14:06

The teams!

Two changes for Leicester, who bring Luke Thomas and James Maddison in, and leave Ricardo Pereira and Ayoze Perez out. West Brom are unchanged again.

Leicester: Schmeichel, Fofana, Evans, Soyuncu, Castagne, Ndidi, Tielemans, Thomas, Maddison, Iheanacho, Vardy. Subs: Albrighton, Ward, Perez, Amartey, Under, Choudhury, Ricardo Pereira, Mendy, Praet.West Brom: Johnstone, Furlong, O’Shea, Bartley, Townsend, Phillips, Yokuslu, Maitland-Niles, Robinson, Matheus Pereira, Diagne. Subs: Robson-Kanu, Ajayi, Livermore, Diangana, Gallagher, Sawyers, Peltier, Button, Ahearne-Grant.Referee: Andrew Madley.

Leicester City (@LCFC)

Confirming our #LeiWba XI 📋

Brought to you by @eToro 🤝

April 22, 2021

West Bromwich Albion (@WBA)

📋 We’re unchanged for tonight’s clash at the King Power Stadium.@MonsterEnergy | #LEIWBA

April 22, 2021

11.51am EDT 11:51

Hello world!

West Brom have scored eight goals in their last two games, which is as many as they scored in their first 11. It is an almost Iheanacho-esque level of goalscoring, and suggests the decent Premier League side that has been trying to hatch at the Hawthorns all season has finally emerged, just in time to be relegated.

With 21 points to play for and a gap of only nine between them and 17th-placed Burnley that fate is far from certain, but they must continue to take their chances. Leicester are the last current top-four side that they will face this season, but 12th-placed Wolves are the lowest team they are scheduled to face. This is a bit daunting, but in many ways mid-table sides are precisely the best kind to be playing at this stage in the season, being the most likely to have started daydreaming about imminent holidays, and they have plenty of those to come.

Leicester certainly should have no commitment issues, sitting as they do just one point ahead of fifth-placed West Ham and three away from Liverpool in seventh (with a game in hand on both), with a Champions League place to protect and a daunting run of Manchester United (a), Chelsea (a) and Spurs (h) to close the campaign. So, in short, this might be a good ’un, between two times going for victory. Welcome!

Updated at 12.24pm EDT