Making his first appearance of the 2024-25 season, Patson Daka featured in Leicester City FC’s 2-1 defeat to Chelsea FC at the King Power Stadium on Saturday.
The Chipolopolo striker expressed his delight to be back on the pitch for the first time since sustaining an ankle injury in a preseason match with the Foxes in August.
Leicester City, who started Daka on the substitutes bench, fell behind just 15 minutes into the contest when Nicolas Jackson capitalized on indecisive defending from Wout Faes.
At 75 minutes, Marc Cucurella split open the hosts’ defence, adeptly lobbing the ball into the path of Jackson, whose rebounded shot was headed over the line by Enzo Fernandez.
In search of a lifeline, the Midlands club summoned Chipolopolo striker Patson Daka from the bench in the 79th minute to replace Jamie Vardy. The Copper Bullets star got his first minutes of the season as the Foxes forced a consolation goal at the death through a Jordan Ayew penalty.
“Felt good to be back” – Daka.
Daka missed over 3 months of action due to an ankle injury he suffered in Leicester City’s 3-0 loss to French Ligue 1 outfit RC Lens in mid-August. The Zambian hitman only lasted 37 minutes in that encounter after Lens defender Kevin Danso landed on his right ankle as the pair contested for the ball.
He missed Leicester City’s first 11 Premier League matches this season and did not feature for the Chipolopolo in any of their 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AfCON) qualification games.
“Felt good to be back out there with the boys today despite the result,” wrote the Zambian striker on his social media account after his side’s narrow loss to Chelsea.
He added, “Thank you for your support 💙.”
Daka will now look to regain his form and fitness as Leicester City takes on Brentford, West Ham, Brighton & Hove Albion and Newcastle in the space of three weeks.
Meanwhile, the Chipolopolo faithful will hope their talisman gets up and running as Zambia aims to salvage an ailing 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign in a crucial fixture against Congo Republic in March.
