Riyad Mahrez reflects on important opener vs. Huddersfield Town

Leicester City’s Riyad Mahrez believes his opening goal against Huddersfield Town was crucial in handing them a 3-0 victory.

The encounter was a game of two different halves with a scrappy, uneventful first half succeeded by a second period dominated by the individual brilliance of the 26-year-old and compatriot Islam Slimani.

Mahrez opened his body to plant a volley past Jonas Lossl from a difficult angle after the winger was picked out by an outrageous overhead cross from Marc Albrighton.

“We knew we were playing a good team and we would have to be patient, but the first goal opened the game for us. Important to win after a difficult run of games,” Mahrez said after the game.

Seven minutes after getting the opener, Mahrez turned provided as he slipped Slimani in for his first league strike this season - the Foxes’ second - before Albrighton wrapped up the win with a late third.

103025

The former Sporting Lisbon striker was only starting his second game in the league this season - after a groin injury forced first choice James Vardy to sit out the tie, and his performance was hailed by coach Claude Puel.

“We had a lot of good performances and it was great to see different players coming into the team and playing well too. Slimani, Matty James, [Aleksandar] Dragović - they all did a great job,” Puel said.

While the forward would be hoping his showing convince his manager, Mahrez will definitely be happy with his virtuoso performance as he has now been directly involved in 14 [seven goals and seven assists] of Leicester City’s 34 league goals this season.

The win saw the King Power Stadium outfit end an underwhelming festive season on a high after they found maximum points hard to come by in their last four games in December.

Puel’s side are placed eighth in the league log after garnering 30 points from 22 league games.