Leicester City were hoping to build on their 1-1 home draw with Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League opener with a win over Fulham but it was not to be for Steve Cooper’s side.
Leicester City were incredibly fortunate to take a point against Tottenham on Monday night after Spurs somehow only scored once despite their dominance.
A Jamie Vardy goal against the run of play rescued a point at the King Power that game, but Steve Cooper‘s side had no such luck away at Fulham as they were second best once again.
Cooper named an unchanged starting XI for the trip to Craven Cottage, buoyed by the improvement in performance after their 57th-minute goal against Tottenham to start the campaign.
However, the Foxes manager did tweak the shape, playing with a back three and using Victor Kristiansen and Abdul Fatawu as wingbacks.
It will likely go down as a failed experiment, but one member of the central defensive trio was the standout player for Leicester in West London.
Wout Faes Leicester City’s star man in Fulham defeat
Fulham took the lead on the 18th-minute as an efficient counter-attack ended with Emile Smith-Rowe cooly finishing past Mads Hermansen in goal.
Wout Faes scored the goal to get Leicester level as he was left all alone in the Fulham box to head home a header he was never likely to miss, before Alex Iwobi’s 70th-minute strike proved to be the winner.
Despite defeat there were some decent individual performances in the Leicester ranks.
Wilfred Ndidi battled well in the heart of the midfield, whilst Facundo Buonanotte built on an impressive debut against Tottenham with another bright display at Craven Cottage.
It was the Leicester goalscorer, Faes, who was the standout performer for Cooper’s side, though.
The Belgian international was on the left of the three-man defence and his display deserved better than to be on the losing side.
His goal aside, Faes had 87 touches according to Sofascore and maintained a pass success rate of 89% – completing 58 of his 65 passes.
The 26-year-old also won three of his five aerial duels, made a remarkable eight clearances and blocked three shots too.
He did make one error that could have proved costly as he attempted a back heel just outside his own box but got away with it as Fulham squandered the opportunity.
Faes key to Leicester City survival chances this season
Faes is undoubtedly Leicester’s best centre-back and he will be a crucial player for Cooper this season.
In the two matches so far under the new manager it has been Jannik Vestergaard chosen to play alongside him, with Caleb Okoli playing himself out of the side in the 3-0 loss to RC Lens to end pre-season.
Experienced centre-back Conor Coady could well be the chosen partner for Faes once he returns from injury, with Cooper giving the 31-year-old plenty of minutes in pre-season and even giving him the captain’s armband on occasion.
The non-negotiable is that if Faes is fit he should play in this Leicester side and they will need the former Reims defender to be at his best if they are to have any hope of staying up this season.
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