LeicesterGround: Walkers Stadium Visits: 1 Date: 3rd January 2011 Match: Leicester - Swansea 2-1 (League Championship) Attendance: 21 656
My first match in 2011 was to be in England and the main reason for this trip was to visit Bloomfield Road in Blackpool, one of my two remaining Premier League grounds. Hence, I decided to stay in Manchester for the first part of the tour. After looking at the fixture list, considering the risk of a postponement etc, I eventually decided that Leicester vs Swansea was to be my first match this year. Managed by Sven Goran Eriksson Leicester have had a lot of (positive) publicity in Sweden recently. Since his arrival Leicester have started the marsch up the table and with today's opponents being Swansea, currently second in the table, I knew I had an interesting game to look forward to. I left Manchester around 10.30 and two hours later I was in Leicester. Leicester play at Walkers Stadium, which is a 20-25 minute walk from the train station. The stadium was opened in August 2002 and has a capacity of 32 000. It is also equipped with undersoil-heating, always an advantage this time of the year and another reason for me to go to Leicester this cold Bank holiday Monday.Once at the stadium I picked up the ticket for my seat in the West Stand.
When the match started Leicester scored an early goal but Swansea equalised a couple of minutes later and the match was by now quite entertaining. With this being the fourth match since Boxing Day (26 December) I realised both sets of players could be a bit tired. Leicester showed no signs of tiredness though as they once again went in front, 2-1 shortly before half-time. In the second half Leicester seem to control events on the pitch, not creating that many chances but never giving Swansea any chances either. In the 78th minute the visitors had their best chance of the half, a player free with the goalkeeper He missed though and Leicester could hold on for an important victory, much to the delight of the 21 000 home fans. A tactical victory for Leicester and Sven but the visitors have to be a bit disappointed with their performance. With Swansea being second in the table I actually expected a bigger away following but I guess four games in 11 days combined with Christmas etc meant fans were a bit skint by now.
Being similar to several other English grounds Walkers Stadium might not be the most exciting stadium to visit for a groundhopper but it was obvious Leicester have what it takes off the field to be in the Premiership. If they have if on the field remains to be seen.
Leicester City FC
Walkers Stadium (Rear of the South Stand)
Leicester fans outside the ground
Filbert the Fox
Family Stand
East Stand
South Kop Stand
Family Stand
Swansea supporters
View of play
Kick-off
East Stand
South Kop Stand
Pano
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