Iheanacho, Ndidi zoom into FA cup 4th rd in absentia
Super Eagles duo Kelechi Iheanacho and Wilfred Ndidi zoomed into the 4th round of FA cup in absentia on Saturday. The Leicester duo are currently in Cameroon on national assignment and in their quest to win the Nations Cup, but their teammates rose to the occasion sending Watford to the cleaners thanks to a 4-1 demolition.
A floodlight failure and a raft of enforced changes could not derail Leicester as they began their defence of the FA Cup with a convincing 4-1 win over Watford.
Youri Tielemans and James Maddison got the Foxes off to a fine start in their third-round tie at the King Power Stadium before Harvey Barnes and Marc Albrighton struck after a Joao Pedro reply.
The lights went out for a short period early in the second half as the Foxes led 3-1, and Pedro hit the bar soon after the restart, but the hosts finished the stronger.
It was a lively encounter, despite managers Brendan Rodgers and Claudio Ranieri making a combined 16 changes between them.
Hampered by a lengthy injury list and Africa Cup of Nations call-ups, Leicester accounted for nine of those alterations with just Maddison and Hamza Choudhury surviving from the side that beat Liverpool on December 28.
Watford perhaps more concerned about some crunch relegation battles in the weeks ahead.
Former Leicester boss Ranieri retained just four players from the side beaten by Tottenham on New Year’s Day and decided not to risk top scorer Emmanuel Dennis or new signing Samir. Another recent recruit, Hassane Kamara, only made the bench.
Leicester were gifted the perfect start when referee Mike Dean pointed to the penalty spot after ruling that Francisco Sierralta pulled down Jannik Vestergaard.
Watford responded well with Tom Cleverley having a shot blocked by Choudhury and Moussa Sissoko firing over but Leicester went close again when Barnes drilled a ball across goal.
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Vestergaard then headed over at a corner before the hosts doubled their lead after 25 minutes as Ademola Lookman turned and played in Maddison, who finished with a clever dink over Daniel Bachmann.
Lookman produced a brilliant save from Bachmann at point-blank range but Albrighton was on hand to blast home the rebound.