Cucurella gives Chelsea narrow win over Leicester after Palmer spot-kick miss | Premier League

Some Chelsea fans remain standoffish with Enzo Maresca, even after seeing their side creep back into top four with 10 matches to go. The sense remains that the Stamford Bridge regulars will take some convincing on the merits of the careful, possession-heavy nature of Marescaball. Shifting opinions will require more than this edgy 1-0 win over Leicester City.

This was hardly emphatic against opponents who look certain to return to the Championship after losing 12 of their past 13 games. Chelsea were pallid and disjointed in attack for long spells – Cole Palmer, who remains in a creative funk, saw his barren run extend to nine matches without a goal after spurning an early penalty – and there were moments when the crowd’s patience with Maresca sounded stretched.

As it was, though, Leicester were nowhere near incisive enough to make a forgettable encounter truly uncomfortable for their former manager. They have lost their identity since losing Maresca last summer and did not make Chelsea sweat after Marc Cucurella broke the deadlock after an hour. No wonder Ruud van Nistelrooy, who looks on increasingly thin ice after taking seven points from a possible 45 since replacing Steve Cooper in December, does not inspire the same warmth as Maresca with Leicester’s followers.

Van Nistelrooy had used a 10-day break since Leicester’s previous game by working on a new set-up. Conor Coady, a wily old competitor who was repeatedly cajoling his teammates to maintain their shape, stepped into the middle of a back five and it was immediately clear that the visitors intended to play on Chelsea’s habit of getting bogged down against opponents who limit the space behind their defence.

Without a goal in their previous four league games, Leicester were content to sit back and spoil. The onus was on Chelsea to solve the puzzle but they suffered from familiar problems. Their passing was too slow, their movement was laboured and the only player in blue who looked willing to take any risks was Robert Sánchez, a surprise starter in goal a month after losing his spot in the league to Filip Jörgensen.

Leicester almost had a farcical lead when a rare counterattack saw their right wing-back, James Justin, deliver a firm cross. Sánchez leapt off his line, punched thin air and watched helplessly as an unwitting Tosin Adarabioyo turned the ball against his own bar. Levi Colwill was then required to stop Jamie Vardy nodding the rebound into the empty net.

It already felt unnecessarily anxious. The mood was edgy, the crowd quiet and restless. Chelsea could not find their passing range. Pedro Neto, his head bandaged after an early collision with Wout Faes, was starved of opportunities to race through the middle. Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernández were being matched for power by Wilfried Ndidi and Boubakary Soumaré in midfield. Palmer hit the referee, Tim Robinson, with one pass.

The sight of Chelsea’s biggest threat scrambling for inspiration was illustrative. The current version of Palmer is not the mooching, casual figure who ambled around destroying defenders for his own amusement earlier this season. What came naturally before now feel forced. There was almost an inevitability to Mads Hermansen diving low to his left to deny Palmer after Chelsea were awarded a penalty for Victor Kristiansen’s needless trip on Jadon Sancho in the 19th minute.

Chelsea drifted into lethargy before half-time. Palmer’s next shot hit one of his own players and Hermansen dealt with a drive from Christopher Nkunku but too much of the play was in front of Leicester.

It did not help that Wesley Fofana, starting for the first time since 1 December after returning from a hamstring injury ahead of schedule, appeared to be under instructions not to provide width at right-back. It is all so mannered with Chelsea. Being a winger in Maresca’s system cannot be easy when they are supported by so few overlapping runs.

Just as the groans from the stands were growing in intensity, though, up popped a full-back to calm the noise. Chelsea had kept with the careful probing and they had the breakthrough when Leicester underestimated Cucurella enough for the left-back to find time to unleash a low shot that beat Hermansen from 20 yards.

Friends again? Not quite. Maresca, perhaps annoyed to have heard boos when Fernández played a backwards pass a few moments earlier, reacted to the goal by angrily gesturing to the crowd for more positivity.

It was a fragile lead. With 17 minutes left Maresca did the unthinkable and removed Palmer with the game still in the balance. Leicester, though, were too blunt to take advantage. Vardy had tested Sánchez at 0-0 but an equaliser was never on the cards. Chelsea, a little uneasily, head into their trip to Arsenal with something approaching momentum.