The scoreline didn't accurately reflect the control Chelsea enjoyed from the very beginning, as we forced the home side to surrender possession and just hope they could prevent us from create chances. The Foxes managed it for spells, but there was only one team in it for the majority of this game.

It was no surprise then when Nicolas Jackson ruthlessly punished some hesitant defending by the Foxes to embarrass Wout Faes before a classy touch and finish past Mads Hermansen with the outside of his foot to give us the lead 15 minutes in.

We were frustrated in our efforts to extend that lead for a long time, with Noni Madueke having a goal ruled out for an offside against Marc Cucurella and then the winger being unable to get out of the way of a goalbound Cole Palmer effort on the line.

Our second did arrive after the break though, when Enzo Fernandez was on hand to convert the rebound with a minimum of fuss after Jackson's header from an excellent Cucurella cross had been saved.

It looked like that would be it for action at the King Power Stadium, but Leicester were given a late consolation in the fifth and final added minute, when Jordan Ayew scored a penalty awarded after Romeo Lavia was deemed to have caught Bobby De Cordova-Reid.

The selection

Enzo Maresca made three changes for this trip to his former club, with fellow ex-Leicester man Wesley Fofana shifting to right-back due to Benoit Badiashile's introduction for Malo Gusto,, who felt unwell overnight. Badiashile lined up alongside Levi Colwill in the middle, with Cucurella continuing on the left and Robert Sanchez in goal.

In midfield, Fernandez replaced Lavia and captained the side, resuming the all-South American partnership with Moises Caicedo. Jackson led the attack, again supported by Madueke and Palmer, but this time joined by Joao Felix, with Pedro Neto the other player to make way after picking up a knock on international duty.

The match began at a fairly sedate tempo. Although Chelsea were winning the ball back quickly and in good positions to put a stranglehold on possession, Leicester were playing cautiously and sitting back to deny us space in the final third.

We attempted to find a way around that wall using our width, but it wasn’t until after Leicester were forced into a change by an early injury for Harry Winks that space began to open up for us.

Cracks start to show

Mistakes began to creep in for Leicester as the game progressed and our pressure started to tell, signalled by Caleb Okoli giving away a cheap corner with a poor touch after initially striking his clearance straight into Madueke.

When our opening goal arrived it was down to equal parts shaky Leicester defending and the sheer persistence of Jackson, as he made something out of nothing following a simple clearance upfield by Badiashile. The second it bounced awkwardly and Jackson began to spin towards goal, Faes looked in trouble.

Jackson’s pressure repeatedly prevented the Belgian defender from clearing and forced him to retreat closer to his own goal before he lost possession completely in the box. There was no questioning the quality that finished it off though, as our No15 lifted the ball over Okoli’s outstretched leg before slotting past the keeper with the outside of his boot.

That goal seemed to shake Leicester even more. Frustration showed, both in the stands and on the pitch, as the home team repeatedly gave the ball away under pressure to loud groans, before Wilfred Ndidi was shown a yellow card for a bad challenge from behind on Palmer. Boubakary Soumare and Oliver Skipp both joined him in the referee’s book for equally late tackles before long.

We kept the pressure up, Madueke testing Hermansen with a trademark effort, cutting in from the right and curling low towards the far corner from the edge of the box. He did have the ball in the back of the net later, but the linesman’s flag went straight up and VAR confirmed it was no goal. It was a shame too, as it was a lovely move, with Palmer splitting the Leicester defence with one pass to allow Cucurella to find Madueke on the penalty spot, but the Spaniard was half a yard offside.

Nerves before the break

However, having looked completely comfortable up until that point, things suddenly swung to leave us holding on to our one-goal lead for the last five minutes before the break, as Skipp curled narrowly wide and Kasey McAteer sliced a promising chance wide.

We did have one last opportunity of our own on the counter before half-time, when Jackson broke down the left and crossed for Madueke, but Hermansen made himself big and did enough to deny Noni anything to aim at with a difficult volley.

Back on top

We had re-established our footing by the time the second half kicked off and were incredibly unlucky not to extend our lead straight away. It came from another quick break, this time Joao Felix charging into space down the middle before toeing a pass in behind for Jackson. The striker was unfortunate to see Hermansen get fingertips to his low shot at full stretch, but Palmer was even more so when his follow-up from a tight angle struck Madueke, despite his team-mate doing everything he could to try and leap over the ball on the line.

It could have gone anywhere, but ended up the wrong side of the post form a Chelsea perspective. It was a moment that was greeted by a disbelieving smile from Cole, as what had seemed like a certain goal was turned into a Leicester goal-kick by one unfortunate ricochet.

Much like at the same stage in the first half, the home side were beginning to retreat deeper into their own territory again, effectively surrendering midfield to Caicedo and Fernandez for spells, but using a massed defence to give them little options of a forward pass into danger.

For quite some time, the closest we came to getting the second goal was a Fernandez effort from outside the box which drifted wide of the left-hand upright, although the combination of Palmer and Madueke down our right was continuing to show promise.

It was Fernandez who got the second Chelsea goal when it did arrive, though. It came from an enticing cross by Cucurella, with Jackson initially doing brilliantly to outmuscle Okoli and power a header at goal. Hermansen produced a good save to keep that out, but was helpless as our Argentinian midfielder arrived to nod the rebound into an empty net.

It was 2-0 to the Blues now and, having been largely untroubled apart from a brief spell before half-time, it was hard to see a way back into game for Leicester during the time remaining. They were handed one deep into soppage time, when VAR adjudged Romeo Lavia to have clipped Bobby De Cordova-Reid's heels in the box. Substitute Jordan Ayew converted the penalty to pull one back, but we were already beyond the alotted five added minutes by the time Chelsea restarted and that was the last chance of the game.

What it means

This win keeps us third in the Premier League table, at least for the time being, with a three-point advantage and three better goal difference compared to Arsenal, who host Nottingham Forest later in the day.

What is next

Our UEFA Conference League campaign continues with an away trip to Germany on Thursday 28 November to face Heidenheim with a 5.45pm kick-off UK time. We then have another early afternoon start in the Premier League, this time at Stamford Bridge against Aston Villa, at 1.30pm on Sunday 1 December.

The teams

Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Sanchez; Fofana, Badiashile, Colwill, Cucurella; Caicedo (Lavia 81), Fernandez (c); Madueke (Sancho 85), Palmer, Joao Felix (Nkunku 81); Jackson (Dewsbury-Hall 90+1)
Unused subs: Bettinelli, Jorgensen, Tosin, Veiga, Mudryk
Scorers: Jackson 15, Fernandez 75
Booked: Caicedo 40, Sanchez 66, Lavia 90+5

Leicester City (4-3-3): Hermansen; Justin, Okoli, Faes, Kristiansen; Ndidi (Ayew 71), Winks (Skipp 11), Soumare; McAteer (Mavididi 71), Vardy (c) (Daka 79), El Khannouss (De Cordova-Reid 79)
Unused subs: Ward, Coady, Thomas, Choudhury
Scorer: Ayew pen 90+6
Booked: Ndidi 22, Soumare 29, Skipp 31

Referee: Andrew Madley