Chelsea vs Leicester City match report: Danny Drinkwater cancels out Cesc Fabregas penalty

Chelsea 1 Leicester City 1

Danny Drinkwater celebrates his goal for Leicester against Chelsea (Getty)

This was always going to be a match where events on the pitch would be kicked into touch by the subplots, reflections on the season that was - spectacular for Leicester City, woeful for Chelsea - and the intrigue surrounding how the next campaign will unfold.

Not so much action but celebration, introspection and speculation in equal healthy measure.

The celebration belonged to Leicester, of course, as they rescued a deserved point through Danny Drinkwater’s long-range strike which cancelled out Cesc Fabregas’ penalty and stopped them picking up just their fourth defeat of the season. But it was about what had come before, the visiting fans in the Shed End were rightly in fine voice throughout, celebrating their amazing title triumph. “Champione, champione” was never far from their lips.

The introspection belonged to Chelsea. Such was the utter decimation of the cub in the early part of the campaign, they did well to recover to a mid-table finish and owed that to the calming influence of Guus Hiddink who sailed the club back into calmer waters following the violent early-season lurching under Jose Mourinho. But the mood dipped again at the Bridge following Leicester’s equaliser.

The speculation surrounded John Terry and the new contract offer he is chewing over that involves him taking on a “different role” at the club. It was another Terry love-in at the Bridge - the 26th minute marking a prolonged show of support for the captain, reciprocated by the defender, sat on the Chelsea bench serving his suspension.

John Terry haves to the Chelsea fans (Getty)

On a sun-soaked afternoon this end-of-season, sing-along allowed the outgoing champions to pay their respects to the new Premier League winners and the end-of-term, holiday’s-a-coming feel was very much in the air. Claudio Ranieri, formerly of Chelsea, and his players were given a guard of honour at the start and the home fans’ applause of Leicester’s incredible achievement was warm and heartfelt. Both sets of fans stood to applaud Leicester during the first half.

What a difference in atmosphere both on the pitch and off compared to the previous encounter at this ground. The last visitors were Spurs on that bitter evening that ended Tottenham’s title hopes and gave Chelsea a modicum of joy to cling to.

Chelsea started the match in better fashion, with Pedro, taking his turn to don the club facemask, bending a shot just wide of Kasper Schmeichel’s far post after cutting inside Danny Simpson. Jamie Vardy flashed a shot wide at the other end, then went down after toeing the ball past Thibaut Courtois only to appeal half-heartedly (one feels it may have been more vociferous had there been more hanging on the result).

Chelsea tested Schmeichel twice more before the break: Fabregas’s drive was saved then Willian’s shot was punched clear after a 1-2 with Fabregas. Pedro then poked home following a Willian cross but was half a yard offside.

Leicester, who swapped Demarai Gray and Andy King for Jeff Schlupp and Shinji Okazaki at the break, started the second half stronger than they had finished the first but Chelsea took the lead in the 66th minute when Eden Hazard dribbled into the box from the left. The ball broke to young Tammy Abraham, on a substitute, whose blocked effort fell to Nemanja Matic. Schlupp bought his dummied shot, went to ground and caught the Serb as he broke into the box. Fabregas rolled home the penalty.

Leicester’s victory over Chelsea back in mid-December — which was Mourinho’s final match in charge of the Blues - was for many the moment when the Foxes became credible title-challengers but they never quite looked like winning here today. Few could bemoan their equaliser though, or the man who got it: Drinkwater firing in from 25 yards on 82 minutes after he was given a little too much time. Courtois probably should have saved it - but no matter.

John Terry is given the bumps by his team-mates (Getty)

After the lap of appreciation on the pitch and an emotional speech by Terry all that remained was to wonder if Leicester will make a better job of defending their title next term compared to Chelsea did this. It’s hard to imagine they will make a worse go of it.

Teams:

Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Courtois; Azpilicueta, Cahill, Ivanovic (Tomori 59), Baba; Matic, Fabregas; Willian, Hazard, Pedro (Loftus-Cheek 52); Traore (Abraham 52).

Leicester City (4-5-1): Schmeichel; Simpson, Wasilewski, Morgan, Fuchs; Mahrez (Albrighton 80), Drinkwater, Kante, King (Okazaki h-t), Gray (Schlupp h-t); Vardy.

Referee: Craig Pawson

Star man: Drinkwater

Match rating: 5