On Saturday, the 2016-17 season started in the English Premier League. At 14:30 Lithuanian time, the first match of the new season took place at the "KCOM" stadium.
In the season opening match, the country's champions defending their title, "Leicester City" players, faced the league debutants "Hull City." In the first half, the "Foxes" already had to admit their opponents' advantage - the result was a 1-2 loss.
"Leicester City" started the game more aggressively; however, they did not manage to do anything serious in front of "Hull City" goals in the first 10 minutes.
The first serious opportunity was created in the 19th minute when Riyad Mahrez received the ball on the right flank and took a shot from a distance. After six minutes, Danny Drinkwater took another dangerous shot after a superb pass from R. Mahrez towards the opponents' goal.
At the end of the first half, during one attack, "Leicester City" had three excellent opportunities to score, but the "Hull City" team defended against Christian Fuchs, Jamie Vardy, and R. Mahrez's attempts.
In the 43rd minute, the "Foxes" had another excellent opportunity to take the lead in this match when after a superb pass from Ahmed Musa, J. Vardy missed the goal.
The rule of "If you don't score, they will" was confirmed - the English champions conceded a goal in added time in the first half. Kasper Schmeichel failed to respond to the second attempt after reacting to a header from a corner. The ball found its way into the goal through the hosts' striker Adama Diomande.
The first half for the "Foxes" started more than successfully - in the first attack, a penalty was awarded to the "Hull City." Riyad Mahrez successfully converted it, and the result became equal.
Unfortunately, the English champions did not celebrate the tie for long, and an unexpected goal was scored in the 57th minute. After a quick counterattack in the penalty area, the ball conveniently fell at the feet of Robert Snodgrass and soon ended up in the goal, giving the hosts the lead again.
After conceding another goal, the Leicester team had nowhere to turn, and Claudio Ranieri allowed two attacking players to take the field. Shinji Okazaki was noticeable from the very first minutes and earned a penalty kick in the 71st minute, which R. Mahrez successfully took. However, the "Hull City" goalkeeper reacted to the shot.
Throughout the remaining time, the Leicester team did not achieve anything significant and suffered a defeat in the season opener. Meanwhile, the returning "Hull City" enjoyed their first victory in the Premier League.
Result:
"Hull City" 2 - 1 "Leicester City"
45' [1 - 0] A. Diomande
47' [1 - 1] R. Mahrez (penalty)
57' [2 - 1] R. Snodgrass
League table:
