Ratings v Bristol City as 9/10 star and 8/10 duo earn long-awaited win

CommentsSportopinionJordan Blackwell21:55, 10 Mar 2026Updated 22:21, 10 Mar 2026Leicester City’s long wait for a victory and a clean sheet is over after they beat Bristol City 2-0 to jump out of the Championship relegation zone.

On a run of 10 winless matches and 30 without a shutout, City snapped both unwanted runs in one go at the King Power Stadium to earn a first success under Gary Rowett.

Ben Nelson and Abdul Fatawu netted in the first half to put City in a commanding position, and this time they did not give it up, in part thanks to Jakub Stolarczyk’s penalty save.

The result lifts City out of the bottom three, but perhaps only for 24 hours, with West Brom able to leapfrog them if they beat Southampton on Wednesday night.

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Rowett made three changes to his side. Despite Harry Winks’ man-of-the-match performance and Patson Daka’s goal at Ipswich, both dropped to the bench, with Jordan James and Jordan Ayew replacing them. Hamza Choudhury came in for Ricardo Pereira in the final swap.

City had to deal with a spell of pressure early on, Stolarczyk tipping over Sam Morsy’s deflected effort, but they then established control.

Stephy Mavididi went close, his effort to the bottom corner palmed away by Radek Vitek, but City weren’t to be denied for long.

With 13 minutes on the clock, James swung a corner to the back post and Nelson outmuscled two defenders to power in a header for his first goal of the season.

City were within the width of a post of making it 2-0 when Fatawu selflessly found Mavididi in the box, the winger’s shot sliding through the defender’s legs, past Vitek, and onto the base of the woodwork. However, their pressure told and they did get their second shortly afterwards.

Strong work from Oliver Skipp in midfield started an attack that saw Mavididi cross to Bobby De Cordova-Reid, whose acrobatic effort was blocked. The ball spooned up and, from a tight angle, Fatawu connected sweetly with a volley to fire through Vitek.

The goal put City into a commanding position, albeit the visitors dominated the final 15 minutes of the first period without mustering any clear chances.

Still, City will have known that they’d won fewer than half of the matches they’d led at half-time, and that they’d given up a two-goal lead to draw when they last played Bristol City in December.

City started the second half brightly, but just after the hour, they gifted the Robins a chance to cut the deficit. Nelson, defensively excellent to that point, dived in clumsily on Emil Riis as he tried to atone for his own error.

But there to spare Nelson’s blushes was Stolarczyk. It was a tame penalty from Riis, but the City goalkeeper still had to guess right, diving to his left to smother the ball, keeping the two-goal lead and the clean sheet intact.

That moment buoyed City and from there, they looked most likely to get another goal, Fatawu’s skills out wide leading to a number of shots that flew just past the post, Caleb Okoli almost deflecting one in.

But all that matters for now is that City’s two-month wait for a win and their six-month wait for a clean sheet are over. Here's how we scored the players.

Jakub Stolarczyk: He had a few shaky moments with his hands and feet, but he was put in the spotlight, he delivered. It was not a good penalty by Riis, but Stolarczyk read him well to save and then smother the ball, playing his part in the clean sheet. 7

Hamza Choudhury: He had the pace to keep up with attacks down his flank and put in a couple of well-timed crunching tackles. On the ball, he was solid. After his daft moment nearly cost City at Ipswich, this was much better. 7

Caleb Okoli: There was one excellent switched pass early on, but that wasn’t a theme for the match, with the aimless passes still present. But defensively, he couldn’t faulted. His positioning was good. 7

Ben Nelson: It’s a shame he made such a mess for the penalty, because he was superb otherwise. He thumped his header in to open the scoring and stood firm to make several fine interventions on the edge of the box and comprehensively shut down Bristol City attacks. But it wasn’t half a clumsy challenge on Riis for the spot-kick. 8

Luke Thomas: There were moments where he looked like he might struggle for pace, especially when Sykes came on, but in truth, Bristol City didn’t have much joy at all down his wing. He was steady on the ball. 7

Oliver Skipp: A clear star man. He read play superbly and used his body brilliantly to rob Bristol City of possession and then ensure he kept it. On the ball, he surged into space and slipped nice passes forward. Very, very good. 9

Jordan James: He intercepted to set up an early Mavididi chance and delivered a fine free-kick to set up Nelson’s header. He was energetic without getting too involved beyond that, but it was his first start in two months. 7

Abdul Fatawu: Very good. He looked up for it immediately, battling hard, thrilling fans with roulettes and nutmegs, and then scoring with a well-struck volley. While he lifted his head in the first half to find team-mates, he was a little too selfish in the second period. 8

Bobby De Cordova-Reid: He turned backwards and slowed the game down too often in the first half, but when the game became stretched, he did play more progressive passes into space. There was some good defensive work in there. 6

Stephy Mavididi: His two first-half efforts were unfortunate, the winger shaping his body nicely to almost find the net. His crosses were hit-and-miss, while he wasn’t quite as effective in the second half. 7

Jordan Ayew: Fans annoyed at his inclusion were even more so when he got in the way of two team-mates inside the first two minutes. But after that, he played well, especially in coming to receive the ball and holding it up. He didn’t offer a goal threat though. 6

Ricardo Pereira: Played a good pass down the line with his first touch and looked like he knew exactly what needed to be done whenever the ball came to him. 6

Harry Winks: Got about the pitch, popping up in lots of different areas, but didn’t have the same level of influence he did at the weekend. Albeit, he didn’t need to. 5

Patson Daka: He had a weak shot that drew ripples of laughter from the crowd in his one attacking moments. Besides that, he pressed well. 5

Divine Mukasa: Tidy, and that was all City needed him to be. 5

Joe Aribo: Only on the pitch for a few moments. N/A