Chelsea edge Leicester to get title bid back on track

Last year's champions faced the winners of the 2015/16 Premier League at ther King Power Stadium, with the crowd providing a warm reception for former Foxes N'Golo Kante and Danny Drinkwater, despite the latter missing out on his Chelsea debut.

The visitors fired the first warning, Tiemoue Bakayoko shifting the ball out for Morata and the Spaniard firing his effort into the arms of Kasper Schmeichel.

Chelsea immediately got on the ball, Leicester responding with high pressure and occassional flashes of danger when breaking forward. Alonso and Moses looked lively out wide as Chelsea exploited their strength on the flanks.

Fabregas was also keen to get involved in the play, pinging a lofted ball in behind the back line for Morata, but the Spanish centre-forward failed to trouble Schmeichel.

The former Real Madrid striker looked eager in the early minutes, but was cancelled out by Wes Morgan who put his body on the line to block Morata's effort when through on goal.

Leicester responded with Mahrez finding Vardy's run but the striker scuffed his effort wide from 18 yards. Moments later, Kante was dispossessed and Mahrez broke away like lightning. The Algerian winger used Vardy as a decoy to feed a fantastic ball through for Slimani whose effort was expertly saved by Courtois.

Having survived at one end, Chelsea were straight up the other. Azpilicueta swung an inviting ball into the area for Morata, who peeled off the back of Morgan for the first time in the game and directed a fantastic header past Schmeichel and into the bottom corner.

The hosts attempted to respond, and Shakespeare brought on King and Gray for Slimani and Albrighton at the break. However, despite kicking off the second period on the front foot, the Foxes went two goals down after 50 minutes.

It was returning hero N'Golo Kante who fired a speculative effort from 30 yards and refused to celebrate after the ball snuck into the bottom corner.

Chance after chance came for the Blues following their second goal, with the hosts looking slightly taken aback. Fabregas looked to create some space at the corner of the box and played a one-two with Pedro before blazing his effort wide.

Against the run of play, Leicester managed to get back into the game. Vardy latched onto the loose ball in the area and Courtois brought the striker down. The referee did not hesitate in pointing to the spot and Vardy stepped up to power the ball past Courtois.

Iheanacho made his first home appearance for the Foxes while Zappacosta was handed his debut, with Hazard also returning for the Blues. And it was the Chelsea pair who were involved when the Belgian found the former Torino man out wide. Zappacosta took a couple of touches and fired a low shot across goal and only inches wide.

Willian was also introduced to the game and the Brazilian posed a threat for the hosts. First, he stepped inside from the left and curled a fantastic effort inches past the far post, and he was then awarded the chance to put the game to bed when released by Hazard. With only Schmeichel to beat, the goalkeeper stood strong.

Another crucial victory for Conte's side who appeared to limp over the line at the end, but still managed to claim their third consecutive victory.