# 2018–19 Leicester City F.C. season

The 2018–19 Leicester City season was the club's 114th season in the English football league system and their 51st (non-consecutive) season in the top tier of English football. This was their fifth consecutive season in the Premier League. They also competed in the FA Cup and EFL Cup. The season covers the period from 1 July 2018 to 30 June 2019.
The season was marred by the death of owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha in a helicopter crash outside the King Power Stadium on 27 October, shortly after a 1–1 home draw against West Ham United.

## Transfers
### Transfers in

| Date | Position | Name | From | Fee |
| 1 July 2018 | CB | Jonny Evans | West Bromwich Albion | £3,500,000 |
| 1 July 2018 | CB | Justen Kranthove | AFC '34 | Free transfer |
| 1 July 2018 | AM | James Maddison | Norwich City | £25,000,000 |
| 1 July 2018 | RB | Ricardo Pereira | Porto | £22,500,000 |
| 14 July 2018 | CF | Ryan Loft | Tottenham Hotspur | Free transfer |
| 20 July 2018 | GK | Danny Ward | Liverpool | £12,500,000 |
| 23 July 2018 | RB | Louis Ramsay | Norwich City | Free transfer |
| 3 August 2018 | GK | Viktor Johansson | Aston Villa | Free transfer |
| 5 August 2018 | RW | Rachid Ghezzal | Monaco | Undisclosed |
| 9 August 2018 | CB | Filip Benković | Dinamo Zagreb | Undisclosed |
| 9 August 2018 | CB | Çağlar Söyüncü | SC Freiburg | £19,000,000 |
| 26 August 2018 | FW | Will Russ | Chesterfield | Undisclosed |
| 19 December 2018 | CF | Davide Lorenzo | Free agent | Free transfer |

### Transfers out

| Date | Position | Name | To | Fee |
| 1 July 2018 | LB | Josh Debayo | Cheltenham Town | Released |
| 1 July 2018 | LW | Tom Fielding | Mansfield Town | Released |
| 1 July 2018 | DM | Rubyn Gill | Solihull Moors | Released |
| 1 July 2018 | GK | Ben Hamer | Huddersfield Town | Free transfer |
| 1 July 2018 | CB | Robert Huth | Retired | Released |
| 1 July 2018 | CM | Sammie McLeod | Maldon & Tiptree | Released |
| 1 July 2018 | CM | Dylan Watts | Shamrock Rovers | Released |
| 1 July 2018 | LB | Connor Wood | Bradford City | Undisclosed |
| 1 July 2018 | GK | Cameron Yates | Wycombe Wanderers | Released |
| 10 July 2018 | RW | Riyad Mahrez | Manchester City | £60,000,000 |
| 3 August 2018 | CF | Ahmed Musa | Al-Nassr | Undisclosed |
| 8 August 2018 | CM | Morgan Brown | Aberdeen | Free transfer |
| 9 August 2018 | CF | Josh Gordon | Walsall | Undisclosed |
| 10 August 2018 | CF | Leonardo Ulloa | Pachuca | Undisclosed |
| 17 October 2018 | CB | Cal Templeton | Tamworth | Free transfer |
| 7 January 2019 | DM | Vicente Iborra | Villarreal | Undisclosed |
| 18 January 2019 | CB | Yohan Benalouane | Nottingham Forest | Undisclosed |
| 4 February 2019 | LW | Liandro Martis | Macclesfield Town | Free transfer |

### Loans in

| Start date | Position | Nationality | Name | From | End date | Ref. |
| 31 January 2019 | CM | | Youri Tielemans | Monaco | 31 May 2019 | |

### Loans out

| Start date | Position | Name | To | End date |
| 1 July 2018 | CB | Elliott Moore | OHL | 31 May 2019 |
| 24 July 2018 | AM | Harvey Barnes | West Bromwich Albion | 11 January 2019 |
| 26 July 2018 | GK | Daniel Iversen | Oldham Athletic | 31 May 2019 |
| 2 August 2018 | GK | Max Bramley | AFC Telford United | 31 May 2019 |
| 3 August 2018 | RW | George Thomas | Scunthorpe United | 31 May 2019 |
| 8 August 2018 | RW | Kian Williams | Barwell | 27 January 2019 |
| 11 August 2018 | CF | Islam Slimani | Fenerbahçe | 31 May 2019 |
| 31 August 2018 | CB | Filip Benković | Celtic | 31 May 2019 |
| 31 August 2018 | AM | Bartosz Kapustka | Oud-Heverlee Leuven | 31 May 2019 |
| 2 January 2019 | LB | Callum Elder | Ipswich Town | 31 May 2019 |
| 10 January 2019 | LW | Fousseni Diabaté | Sivasspor | 31 May 2019 |
| 31 January 2019 | RB | Darnell Johnson | Hibernian | 31 May 2019 |
| 31 January 2019 | CM | Andy King | Derby County | 31 May 2019 |
| 31 January 2019 | CB | Josh Knight | Peterborough United | 31 May 2019 |
| 31 January 2019 | CM | Adrien Silva | Monaco | 31 May 2019 |

## First team squad

* This section lists players who were in Leicester's first team squad at any point during the season
* Asterisks indicates player left mid-season
* Hash symbol indicates player retired mid-season
* Italics indicate loaned player
| No. | Name | Position | Joined | Signed from |
| Goalkeepers ||||||
| 1 | Kasper Schmeichel | GK | 2011 | Leeds United |
| 12 | Danny Ward | GK | 2018 | Liverpool |
| 17 | Eldin Jakupović | GK | 2017 | Hull City |
| Defenders ||||||
| 2 | Danny Simpson | RB | 2014 | Queens Park Rangers |
| 3 | Ben Chilwell | LB / LM | 2015 | Youth |
| 4 | Çağlar Söyüncü | CB | 2018 | SC Freiburg |
| 5 | Wes Morgan | CB | 2012 (winter) | Nottingham Forest |
| 6 | Jonny Evans | CB | 2018 | West Bromwich Albion |
| 14 | Ricardo Pereira | RB | 2018 | Porto |
| 15 | Harry Maguire | CB | 2017 | Hull City |
| 16 | Filip Benković | CB | 2018 | Dinamo Zagreb |
| 28 | Christian Fuchs | LB / CB | 2015 | Schalke 04 |
| 29 | Yohan Benalouane* | CB | 2015 | Atalanta |
| 35 | Callum Elder | LB | 2013 | Youth |
| 39 | Darnell Johnson | CB | 2018 | Youth |
| Midfielders ||||||
| 7 | Demarai Gray | LW / RW / CF | 2016 (winter) | Birmingham City |
| 10 | James Maddison | AM | 2018 | Norwich City |
| 11 | Marc Albrighton | RM / LM | 2014 | Aston Villa |
| 18 | Daniel Amartey | CM / CB / RB / DM | 2016 (winter) | Copenhagen |
| 19 | Harvey Barnes | AM / CM / RM / LM | 2016 | Youth |
| 21 | Vicente Iborra* | CM | 2017 | Sevilla |
| 21 | Youri Tielemans | CM | 2019 (winter) | Monaco (loan) |
| 22 | Matty James | CM | 2012 | Manchester United |
| 23 | Adrien Silva | CM | 2017 | Sporting CP |
| 24 | Nampalys Mendy | CM | 2016 | Nice |
| 25 | Wilfred Ndidi | DM | 2017 (winter) | Genk |
| 31 | Rachid Ghezzal | LW / RW | 2018 | Monaco |
| 33 | Bartosz Kapustka | LW / RW | 2016 | Cracovia |
| 37 | Andy King | CM | 2006 | Youth |
| 38 | Hamza Choudhury | CM | 2015 | Youth |
| Forwards ||||||
| 8 | Kelechi Iheanacho | ST | 2017 | Manchester City |
| 9 | Jamie Vardy | ST/CF | 2012 | Fleetwood Town |
| 20 | Shinji Okazaki | CF / AM | 2015 | Mainz 05 |
| 27 | Fousseni Diabaté | RW / LW / ST | 2018 | Gazélec Ajaccio |
| — | Islam Slimani | ST | 2016 | Sporting CP |
| — | George Thomas | RW / LW / ST | 2017 | Coventry City |

## Kits

| Home | Home alt. | Home 2019-20 | Away | Third |
| Goalkeeper 1 | Goalkeeper 2 | Goalkeeper 3 | Goalkeeper 2019-20 |

## Pre-season
### Pre-season friendlies

Leicester City announced that they will play pre-season friendlies against Notts County, Valencia and Lille, with a further two matches against Akhisarspor and Udinese Calcio as part of a tour to Austria.

## Competitions
### Overview

| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record |
| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % |
| Premier League | 10 August 2018 | 12 May 2019 | Matchday 1 | 9th | 38 | 15 | 7 | 16 | 51 | 48 | +3 | 039.47 |
| FA Cup | 6 January 2019 | 6 January 2019 | Third round | Third round | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −1 | 000.00 |
| EFL Cup | 28 August 2018 | 18 December 2018 | Second round | Quarter-finals | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 1 | +4 | 025.00 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | 43 | 16 | 10 | 17 | 57 | 51 | +6 | 037.21 |
Source: Soccerway

### Premier League
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 7 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 38 | 16 | 9 | 13 | 47 | 46 | +1 | 57 | Qualification for the Europa League second qualifying round |
| 8 | Everton | 38 | 15 | 9 | 14 | 54 | 46 | +8 | 54 | |
| 9 | Leicester City | 38 | 15 | 7 | 16 | 51 | 48 | +3 | 52 | |
| 10 | West Ham United | 38 | 15 | 7 | 16 | 52 | 55 | −3 | 52 | |
| 11 | Watford | 38 | 14 | 8 | 16 | 52 | 59 | −7 | 50 | |
* ↑ Since the winners of the EFL Cup and the FA Cup, Manchester City, qualified for the Champions League, the spot given to the FA Cup winners (Europa League group stage) was passed to the sixth-placed team and the spot given to the League Cup winners (Europa League second qualifying round) was passed to the seventh-placed team.

#### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
Last updated: 12 May 2019. Source: Premier League

#### Results by matchday

| Matchday | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 |
| Ground | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H |
| Result | L | W | W | L | L | W | W | L | L | D | W | D | D | W | D | L | L | W | W | L | W | L | L | D | L | L | L | W | L | W | W | W | W | L | D | W | L | D |
| Position | 13 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 12 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 10 | 8 | 9 | 9 |

#### Matches

On 14 June 2018, the Premier League fixtures for the forthcoming season were announced.

### FA Cup

The third round draw was made live on BBC by Ruud Gullit and Paul Ince from Stamford Bridge on 3 December 2018.

### EFL Cup

The second round draw was made from the Stadium of Light on 16 August. The third round draw was made on 30 August by David Seaman and Joleon Lescott. The fourth round draw was made live on Quest by Rachel Yankey and Rachel Riley on 29 September.

## Squad statistics
### Appearances

* Asterisk (*) indicates player left club mid-season
* Hashtag (#) indicates player finished the season out on loan
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | Premier League | Premier League | FA Cup | FA Cup | League Cup | League Cup |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| 1 | GK | | Kasper Schmeichel | 38 | 0 | 38 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | DF | | Danny Simpson | 9 | 0 | 3+3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 3 | DF | | Ben Chilwell | 36 | 0 | 36 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | DF | | Çağlar Söyüncü | 8 | 0 | 4+2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | | Wes Morgan | 25 | 3 | 21+1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 6 | DF | | Jonny Evans | 28 | 1 | 21+3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 7 | MF | | Demarai Gray | 39 | 4 | 24+10 | 4 | 0+1 | 0 | 2+2 | 0 |
| 8 | FW | | Kelechi Iheanacho | 35 | 2 | 9+21 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3+1 | 1 |
| 9 | FW | | Jamie Vardy | 36 | 18 | 30+4 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 |
| 10 | MF | | James Maddison | 38 | 7 | 35+1 | 7 | 0+1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 11 | MF | | Marc Albrighton | 32 | 3 | 18+9 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2+2 | 1 |
| 12 | GK | | Danny Ward | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 14 | DF | | Ricardo Pereira | 37 | 2 | 35 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 |
| 15 | DF | | Harry Maguire | 32 | 3 | 31 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 16 | DF | | Filip Benković# | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 17 | GK | | Eldin Jakupovic | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 18 | MF | | Daniel Amartey | 10 | 0 | 7+2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 19 | MF | | Harvey Barnes | 16 | 1 | 11+5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 20 | FW | | Shinji Okazaki | 25 | 0 | 1+20 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2+1 | 0 |
| 21 | MF | | Vicente Iborra* | 11 | 1 | 3+5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| 21 | MF | | Youri Tielemans | 13 | 3 | 13 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 22 | MF | | Matty James | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 23 | MF | | Adrien Silva | 5 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 24 | MF | | Nampalys Mendy | 32 | 0 | 23+8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 25 | MF | | Wilfred Ndidi | 40 | 2 | 37+1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 27 | FW | | Fousseni Diabaté# | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 |
| 28 | DF | | Christian Fuchs | 8 | 1 | 2+1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
| 29 | DF | | Yohan Benalouane* | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 31 | MF | | Rachid Ghezzal | 23 | 3 | 8+11 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| 33 | MF | | Bartosz Kapustka# | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 34 | DF | | Josh Knight# | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 35 | DF | | Callum Elder# | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 37 | MF | | Andy King# | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 38 | MF | | Hamza Choudhury | 12 | 0 | 7+2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 |
| 39 | DF | | Darnell Johnson# | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 59 | MF | | Thakgalo Leshabela | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| — | FW | | Islam Slimani# | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

### Top scorers

| Rnk | No | Pos | Nat | Name | Premier League | FA Cup | League Cup | Total |
| 1 | 9 | FW | | Jamie Vardy | 18 | 0 | 0 | 18 |
| 2 | 10 | MF | | James Maddison | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 3 | 7 | MF | | Demarai Gray | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 4 | 15 | DF | | Harry Maguire | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 4 | 5 | DF | | Wes Morgan | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 4 | 21 | MF | | Youri Tielemans | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 4 | 11 | MF | | Marc Albrighton | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 4 | 31 | MF | | Rachid Ghezzal | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 9 |
| 9 | 14 | DF | | Ricardo Pereira | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 9 | 25 | MF | | Wilfred Ndidi | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 9 | 8 | FW | | Kelechi Iheanacho | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 12 | 6 | DF | | Jonny Evans | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 12 | 19 | MF | | Harvey Barnes | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 12 | 28 | DF | | Christian Fuchs | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 12 | 21 | MF | | Vicente Iborra | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Own Goals | Own Goals | Own Goals | Own Goals | Own Goals | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | 51 | 1 | 5 | 57 |

## Awards
### Club awards

Leicester's annual award ceremony, including categories voted for by the players and supporters, was held on 7 May 2019. The following awards were made:
| Player of the Year Award | Ricardo Pereira |
| Young Player of the Year Award | James Maddison |
| Players' Player of the Year Award | Ricardo Pereira |
| Academy Player of the Year Award | Oliver Bosworth |
| Development Squad Player of the Season | Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall |
| Goal of the Season Award | Christian Fuchs vs. Fleetwood Town, 28 August 2018 |
| Performance of the Season | vs. Manchester City, 26 December 2018 |
| Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha Outstanding Community Award | Geoff and Gill Smart |

### Divisional awards

| Date | Nation | Winner | Award |
| April 2019 | | Jamie Vardy | Premier League Player of the Month |