Mahrez, Slimani Star, Silva Makes Awaited Debut as Leicester Beats Huddersfield
Leicester City started the new year perfectly after securing all three points at the King Power Stadium on Monday, claiming a 3-0 victory over Huddersfield Town.
Classy goals from Riyad Mahrez and Islam Slimani proved to be too much for David Wagner's Terriers, with Adrien Silva's first appearance for the club being another highlight for the home side.
Clear-cut chances were at a premium in an underwhelming first-half, with both sides pressing their opponents all over the pitch.
Chris Löwe was able to test the reactions of Kasper Schmeichel early on in the game, with Islam Slimani's offside header the only Leicester attempt that worked Jonas Lössl.
Huddersfield saw a strong shout for a free kick waved away despite obvious contact on Danny Williams from Harry Maguire - the last man back in Leicester's defense.
The hosts then had their own appeal waved away by the referee, with Maguire optimistically hitting the deck under pressure from a number of Huddersfield defenders in the hope of winning his side a penalty.
The remainder of the first-half petered out without a chance to talk about, leaving Löwe's early strike the only shot on target in the opening 45 minutes.
Slimani bucked that trend when an early second-half header was saved by Lössl, with Mahrez finding a much-needed opener minutes later.
The Algerian winger converted a hopeful cross by Marc Albrighton in outstanding style, smashing a volley into the back of the net with pinpoint accuracy.
Shinji Okazaki then saw a goal correctly disallowed for a foul on Christopher Schindler shortly after Mahrez's opener, with Leicester starting to pile on the pressure in search of a second goal.
The Foxes finally got their breathing space when Slimani, after racing onto the end of a through ball from Mahrez, confidently dinked the ball over a helpless Lössl to score his first Premier League goal since April.
Wilfred Ndidi rattled the woodwork with a powerful in the last 10 minutes of the game, with Leicester City continuing to threaten the Huddersfield goal.
One of the last talking points of the game came when Silva replaced Matty James to make his first Leicester City appearance since his £22m move from Sporting CP during the summer.
Albrighton did see a goal ruled out for offside in the closing stages of the match, just seconds before a cross from Demarai Gray deflected into the path of the former Aston Villa midfielder, who made no mistake from close range with the last chance of the game.
