Leicester 1-2 Chelsea: 4 key battles that decided the game

Chelsea kept their hope of silverware this season after they held their nerve to win 1-2 at the King Power Stadium on Sunday. More important than the win would be the return to scoring form of Chelsea's talismanic striker, Alvaro Morata.

The match was dominated by Chelsea in the first half, but the home team really took the game into their hands after conceding. By Chelsea standards, this was a very scrappy win but after their recent result at Camp Nou, there won't be any complaints from higher-up.

As usual, there were a few key battles that decided the tie in favour of the winning team. Here's a look at those that ultimately had a say in the final outcome of the fixture:

#1 Alvaro Morata vs Harry Maguire

Morata scored his first goal since December last year

After a prolific start to the campaign, Morata has all but faded away from the memories of the fans at the Bridge. His struggles with injury and confidence have put him on the sidelines, with Conte preferring to start Hazard as a false 9 rather than trust Morata with the job at times.

This time, Conte put his faith on the Spaniard, and rightly so. Right from the get-go, the Blues' No.9 looked like a man determined. Chelsea too, rightly played to Morata's strengths - they gave him balls in the air to attack, they played the ball off him from the flanks and used him as a decoy to get behind the Leicester defence.

Harry Maguire has been a revelation this season at Leicester and he was tasked with the seemingly easy job of marking Morata. The Englishman initially did his part well, shadowing his target and preventing him from getting chances. But he was no match for Morata's pace once Willian released him through on goal.

Along with Wes Morgan, Maguire was mostly sturdy on the day, except for the moment of brilliance from Morata. But that's what football is all about, isn't it?

#2 Jamie Vardy vs Andreas Christensen

Jamie Vardy scored yet another goal against Top-6 opposition

Asking any defender to mark Jamie Vardy over the course of 90 minutes should be a proper nightmare, but Andreas Christensen did an admirable job of going about it.

Admittedly, Vardy did get his goal - his 10th goal in 12 games against 'Top 6' opposition, but to call that a failure on Christensen's part would be unfair. After a series of blocks and a great save from Willy Caballero, the ball fell kindly to Vardy, and the Englishman was never going to miss from that distance.

Other than that, the young Danish defender was all over the Foxes' No.9 - staying with him whenever Leicester released him from the deep and staying with him on crosses dealt in by Albrighton and Chillwell.

Chelsea did allow an unholy number of balls into the box from the wings, but it is to Christensen's credit that Vardy was never on the receiving end of any more of them.

#3 Riyad Mahrez vs Marcos Alonso

Riyad Mahrez was kept fairly quiet by Alonso

This was one of the more even battles of the night, as both players were heavily involved in both of the goals that were scored in regulation time.

Alonso was the one who started Chelsea's counter-attack for the first goal, when he stole the ball from under Mahrez's feet - Iheanacho's pass to Mahrez before that was the epitome of lazy - and helped Morata get the lead. Alonso was more heavily involved in defending than attacking, seeing as how Mahrez likes to exploit the space on the wings.

Unfortunately for the Spaniard, he failed to close in on Mahrez when he ventured into the box looking for the equalizer. Mahrez first beat Alonso with a well-executed elastico and then squared the ball into the box, before a series of pinball strikes ended with Vardy finding the back of the net.

Mahrez vs Alonso - stats — Alonso vs Mahrez - stats

The battle largely belonged to Alonso, however, as he kept the Algerian under check and didn't concede an inch of space for him to get a shot on target.

#4 N'Golo Kante vs Wilfred Ndidi

Yet again, Kante was Chelsea's best player on the pitch

As all Chelsea games, this one fell to N'Golo Kante to have the decisive say on the result and he delivered like he always does.

Kante was all over the pitch over the course of all the 120 minutes he stayed on the pitch, and when he was interviewed after the match he hadn't even broken a sweat. The defensive midfielder did more than just defend on the night, as he started most attacks for Chelsea, with his distribution to Willian or Moses.

His opponent, on the other hand, had one of the finest performances ever by a defensive midfielder in recent times. Ndidi was as good as Kante, if not better and thoroughly dominated Bakayoko to the extent that he had to be taken off at half-time.

Kante edges out Ndidi on the sheer basis of his offensive contribution, as it was his cross that provided the assist for Pedro's extra-time winner in favour of the visitors.