Pundits agree on James Maddison relegation question after Leicester City defeat to Man City

Former Leicester City coach Kolo Toure and pundit Jamie Redknapp believe that James Maddison will be key to Leicester City surviving in the Premier League due to him playing with ‘no fear’.

Maddison played his first game under new manager Dean Smith as City took on Manchester City on Saturday evening. Despite losing the game 3-1, there were positives to take from the performance.

After Kelechi Iheanacho reduced the deficit in the second half, Maddison had a golden opportunity to make it 3-2 when he pounced on a Man City mistake. The City midfielder was however thwarted by goalkeeper Ederson.

Maddison has been a key player for City this season. The midfielder’s role in City’s fight against relegation has been likened to that of Jack Grealish when Aston Villa was in trouble in 2019/20 under the stewardship of Smith.

And Toure, who worked closely with Maddison during his time at City, has no doubts that he has a big role to play.

“Absolutely. Absolutely, because this is a player who loves the game. He loves the club and he loves football,” he said on Sky Sports. “For sure he will do everything he could to help Leicester City to stay up, definitely.”

Fellow pundit Jamie Redknapp was in agreement with Toure, outlining the key in the midfielder’s game that could make the difference.

“No fear. He plays with no fear, that’s what he did today,” he said. “He was the only one I felt that wanted to get on the ball and make a difference, and that’s exactly what he did.”

Reflecting on the game against Man City, Redknapp added: “They’ll take positives out of that, three nil going into the second half, get it back to three one.

“They had chances to get something out of a game that they really had no right to but sometimes you need those little breaks and the manager might have taken them as a positive.

“One positive that he certainly would have taken from the game was James Maddison, although he didn’t score I thought he was fantastic, and he gives you a real chance because he won’t be fazed by pressure, by the crowd not wanting to get relegated, the only surprise was that he didn’t score because he was so great in this game.”