Leicester City came from behind to beat Millwall 3-2 on Wednesday night as Ricardo Pereira put in a stunning performance on his return to the team.
The Lions opened the scoring through Tom Bradshaw inside ten minutes before a glut of Leicester goals at the start of the second half from Jannik Vestergaard and Patson Daka turned the game on its head.
Ricardo Pereira then scored 12 minutes from time to ease any worries of Millwall snatching a point.
The victory sent Enzo Maresca’s side back to the top of the Championship as they leapfrogged Ipswich Town.
Daka, who scored his second goal in as many games, was instrumental in stretching Millwall’s backline as his runs in behind created the space for explosive widemen Abdul Fatawu and Stephy Mavididi to thrive.
The Zambian was also key to linking play, recording a 93% pass completion, as per Sofascore, while igniting the Leicester press from the front with four out of five ground duels won.
Although he was instrumental on the night, he didn’t come close to outperforming Pereira, who was magnificent on his return to the team after serving his one-match suspension last time out.
Ricardo Pereira’s performance against Millwall
There is a firm belief from many Leicester fans that Pereira should be playing at a big side in the Premier League and performances – like the one tonight – show exactly why they’re akin to believe that.
The £80k-per-week star has been a crucial cog in Maresca’s winning machine, operating as an inverted full-back, who steps into midfield when the Foxes are on the ball.
It requires the player to be comfortable in possession and have the positional awareness to occupy the right spaces on the pitch – Pereira is certainly that.
In his performance against Millwall, he dominated in central areas and was crucial in the build-up phase.
Pereira made a whopping 111 touches – the fourth most of any player on the field – and completed an impressive 89% of his passes.
He was everywhere and showed some excellent footwork to set up a chance for Mavididi just before the equaliser, while tracked back well to stop Millwall attacks and keep the pressure on.
The latter was demonstrated by him winning all nine of his attempted ground duels and making five tackles.
After performing exceptionally, especially in the second half, he applied the icing onto the top of the cake by writing his name on the scoresheet.
His curled effort on his weaker left, which took a slight deflection off Wilfried Ndidi, secured all three points for the Foxes as they moved back into pole position at the top of the table.