90+4 min: Desperate stuff from Chelsea, they’ve resorted to hoofing it forward. It’s not working. Huth and Morgan stand strong. Inler is mopping everything up in front of them.

90+2 min: It’s actually Leicester that are looking the more threatening here. Okasaki drives down the right, switched the play to Albrighton, who drives forward once more. After a nice one-two with Ulloa, Albrighton feeds Okasaki again, but his shot is well over the bar.

90 min: Groans go up around the stadium as the fourth official gives five minutes of injury-time. That seems far too generous, for my money.

89 min: Pedro swings in a cross towards the back post, which is left by Fuchs. It was a brave decision, with Remy behind him, but ultimately a good one, as the French striker lets it go out for a goal kick!

87 min: Leicester are showing some excellent ‘game-management’ here. Chelsea have had so much of the ball of late, but haven’t forced Schmeichel into a save for 10 minutes. Ranieri uses up some more time by making a sub: Vardy off (he’s on a yellow remember), Okazaki on. Apologies I thought they had already made three changes. Still, another striker!

85 min: It’s all kicking off.

83 min: Close from Albrighton! Leicester soak up more Chelsea pressure and hit the London club on the break. Kante skips past Fabregas, feeds Albrigton who travels a good 40 yards before he encounters any kind of challenge. The former Villa winger snatches at his shot from the edge of the area, which skims a yard wide of Courtois’ right-hand post.

82 min: Leicester make their second change, and unsurprisingly it’s a defensive one: Inler on for Mahrez. Kante looks like he will shift out to the right.

81 min: Some thoughts from Tim Woods: “Lots of people over here in Germany were saying Dortmund were in a relegation battle last year, and they finished in the Europa League places and the cup final. I suspect it might be similar for Chelsea. They are in a bad (and highly amusing) run but it won’t last the whole season.” I agree, but that’s what we said in October …

79 min: It’s remarkable that for all Chelsea’s pressure – Ranieri has still chosen to keep two strikers on the pitch: Ulloa and Vardy. Leicester have got a big 11 minutes coming up. Chelsea are flooding forward is great numbers.

76 min: There is a stadium announcement that tells Chelsea fans about an accident on the M1 southbound. Cheers go up around the King Power from the home fans.

74 min: An excellent ball from Matic finds Willian in space on the left, and having broken the offside trap, the Brazilian dribbles into the Leicester penalty box, cuts the ball back to Remy, but the striker miscontrols the ball and Leicester again clear. Woeful touch, that.

72 min: It’s all Chelsea, but Leicester are holding firm. Kante, Fuchs, Morgan and King in particular are all working extremely hard.

70 min: A lot of you seem to think this result will determine Mourinho’s future. I’m not so sure.

“If Mourinho goes to three at the back, which it seems he has, he will be either collecting his p45 or his get-out-of-jail card on the way out tonight,” writes Justin Kavanagh. “This is the desperate gamble of a man in the last-chance saloon.”

“Chelsea currently have less than a point a game, that’s relegation form,” emails Mark Judd. “At this rate, they will be one of those teams just looking to get to 38 points for the season, and hoping it is enough to keep them up. Who’d have thought it? What were the odds at the start of the season that Chelsea would be in this pickle at this stage of the season. Anybody put any money on it?”

“Im a Chelsea fan”, says the appropriately named Dante Danger. “We are genuinely in a relegation battle. It feels extremely odd to say that, but it’s the truth. The question is, given that none of these players have experience of a relegation battle, do we bring in top quality players, or relegation dogfight specialists?”

67 min: Fabregas has definitely had an impact since he’s come on. He gets his head on a Willian cross, but it’s straight at Schmeichel. Remy comes on for Oscar. That’s Chelsea’s last change. They are throwing the dice.

64 min: Chelsea are taking risks now, and whilst they are creating openings, they are leaving gaps at the back. This is perfect for a Leicester counter-attack. Kante sprints forward, he is clipped by Matic, but Clattenburg plays a good advantage. Suddenly it’s four on two and the back, but Zouma does excellently to block Vardy’s pass.

63 min: From the resulting corner, Ivanovic should score! Willian’s corner is inadvertently flicked on by Huth to Ivanovic at the back post. The Serbian miscues his first volleyed effort and then can’t force the rebound past Fuchs on the line. How have Chelsea not scored?

“Best bit of defending that Ivanovic has managed all season,” quips Adam Hirst.

62 min: Great save from Schmeichel! Chelsea are beginning to turn the screw now that they have changed their system. Fabregas threads a delightful ball through to Costa, who shrugs off Morgan and bears down on goal. He’s one-on-one with the keeper, but Schmeichel sticks out a right boot and Costa’s low shot loops over the bar and onto the top of the net.

60 min: Chance for Chelsea. They are having their best period of the match. Oscar curls a cross into the box, it is headed out by Simpson, but only as far as Pedro. The Spaniard is on the edge of the Leicester’s six-yard box but can’t control the bouncing ball, and Kante is able to clear.

58 min: Huth again mis-times his challenge – he’s on thin ice already – to bring Pedro to the turf. Willian is over the free-kick but uncharacteristically hits his attempt on goal into the wall.

56 min: “Ohhh - is that Aimar in that Adidas ad?” emails Mads Pihl. “Nice to see one of the almost forgotten (almost-)greats again. Always loved him. Or at least his hair.”

Here is the little man in all his glory. Complete with Game of Thrones soundtrack.

54 min: Andy King looks like he has got a bad gash on his calf. Oooooh, that looks painful. He’s forced to come off for a moment, but a little bit of attention from the medical staff and he’s back on his feet.

52 min: Chelsea make a drastic change: John Terry, their captain, comes off. Fabregas is on.

Huth is booked for a challenge on Costa, he will now miss Leicester’s next match at Everton on Saturday.

50 min: “We’re Leicester City, we’re top of the league” holla the home crowd. “We are staying up, say we are staying up”, reply the travelling Chelsea fans. At least they’ve got a sense of humour.

“Don’t tell me Chelsea is too good to go down,” emails Adeem Sadiq. “Because that has never saved any club from relegation. If anything, the players have no idea how to fight for survival.”

Chelsea are too good to go down. But on this showing, against the current Premier League champions, Leicester are good enough to win the title. Maybe I’m getting a bit ahead of myself, but why not? It’s nearly Christmas.

46 min: Vardy gets the second half underway by absolutely crunching Costa. Costa doesn’t react. Only joking. Yellow card for Vardy. Deserved.

Peeeeeep! And we’re off again. There is a wonderful bit of footage that Sky showed at the break of Costa making napping signs with his hands at Chelsea defence after the goal. Hahahaha.

If he wasn’t a Leicester fan, I’d say Gary was just looking for a bite. Sadly, I don’t think he is. Can you imagine the backlash?

Half-time entertainment

In honour of that fine 2010 World Cup advert I posted before kick-off, here are two more of my favourites.

45+2 min: Mahrez again nutmegs his marker, Matic this time, and goes down, but Clattenburg is having none of it. Play on.

45 min: Three minutes added on here for injury-time, which is accounting mainly for Hazard’s injury. Leicester have had five efforts on goal, to Chelsea’s two.

44 min: Some slick passing down the left between Fuchs, Kante and Albrighton allows the latter to shoot from range, but Courtois gets across well to catch the effort at his near post.

43 min: With Leicester putting men behind the ball, and Hazard off injured, Chelsea are looking bereft of ideas. Willian, Mourinho’s only bright spark this season, is being marked out of the game. Oscar is get to affect the game in any way.

40 min: Leicester’s midfield are all working extremely hard to protect their defenders, particularly the wide men. Albrighton shuts down Willian, timing a slide tackle to protection.

37 min: Willian plays a silly backpass towards Zouma and Vardy nips it to toe the ball away. Zouma, swinging his foot to clear the ball, clatters Vardy instead, and Leicester win a dangerous free-kick on the edge. It’s swung in towards the back post, and might have gone straight in, were it not for an excellent defensive header from Azpilicueta.

35 min: Chelsea hit the bar! Well the very top of it, anyway. Chelsea swing a cross in from the right, Matic gets above Morgan at the near post and flicks his header towards the back stick – the ball just clipping the top of the bar, before bouncing over. Defending corners still appears to be Leicester’s weakness.

31 min: Kante tries his luck from range, the ball sailing a good 10 yards over the bar. Kante has many qualities, but shooting is not one of them.

29 min: Mourinho appeared to tell Hazard to get back on the pitch, as the Belgian made for the tunnel. Hazard tried to re-enter the field, again clutched his hip, and again set off the dressing-room. This time he’s not coming back. Pedro is on.

28 min: Hazard is slow to get to his feet, and he’s coming off! That’s remarkable, it looked a very innocuous challenge. Pedro readies himself on the sidelines. Mourinho is not a happy man.

27 min: Vardy shoves Hazard to the turf, as the Belgian drops deeper and deeper to get the ball. There doesn’t look to be any bad contact, but Hazard stays down, clutching his hip. Chelsea’s players surround the ref. It’s a free-kick, nothing more.

23 min: “Am I the only one confused by Chelseas stripes on their sleeves? I thought Diego Costa was their Captain for the first ten minutes...” Yep, they’ve got a red and blue trim on the sleeves, which is actually quite nice, in my opinion. I can assure you 35-year-old John Terry is the Chelsea captain tonight.

21 min: Chelsea have settled into their rhythm, and are dominating the ball. They’ve enjoyed 57% possession so far. But as I mentioned earlier, that won’t bother Ranieri one bit.

19 min: Huth hoofs it clear, and for a brief moment Vardy gets into a footrace with Zouma, although his starting position is several yards behind the retreating French defender. Courtois comes out of his box, makes a complete hash of the clearance and Zouma boots the ball into touch. Vardy will do that to defenders, especially with this crowd, there must be nothing but panic in their hearts when the ball goes over their heads.

17 min: Free-kick to Chelsea on the edge. Willian is over it, obviously. Danger for Leicester … it’s a poor set-piece and doesn’t beat the first man.

16 min: Drinkwater has pulled a hamstring. Oh dear, this is not good for Leicester. Andy King comes on.

14 min: Simpson misjudges an Oscar cross and for a brief moment, Hazard has a radius of space inside the Leicester box. He chests it down well, but Leicester’s defence do well to cover and block Hazard’s shot.

13 min: Mahrez skips beyond Terry – surely not for the last time tonight – and goes down. There looked like there was minimal contact, but Clattenburg awards the free-kick. It is swung in by Fuchs, and is caught, then dropped by Courtois. Huth is there to pounce … no! Courtois just about collects it at the second time of asking.

11 min: “Aston Villa, they’ve won more than you,” sing the Chelsea fans. “Jamie Vardy, he’s scored more than you” incorrectly reply the Leicester faithful, before the party song gets an airing.

9 min: It is an magnificent atmosphere here. The crowd, buoyed by their pre-match crisps, are in excellent voice.

7 min: Leicester’s defenders have already had a couple of bites at Diego Costa. First Wes Morgan clips the Spaniard’s heels, then Simpson pulls him back on a dangerous Chelsea counter-attack. No free-kick.

5 min: Chelsea win a couple of corners but they are headed away easily. I expect Ranieri has placed plenty of emphasis on defending set-pieces since that Bastian Schweinsteiger header for Manchester United last month.

3 min: Kante has just robbed Willian again, this time simply outmuscling the Brazilian. He is a real Leicester favourite.

2 min: Mahrez intecepts an Azpilicueta pass, nutmegs Hazard – to huge cheers in the stands – and sets off on a mazy run towards goal, cutting inside Ramires and hitting a low shot that is not close enough to the corner to cause Courtois any problems. The boy is special, make no mistake.

1 min: Kante picks Willian’s pocket with superb block tackle. Unlike so many defensive midfielders, he has a raw pace to keep step with the fastest attacking players in the league.

The teams are out. Leicester in their royal blue, Chelsea in all-white. Let’s do this.

Lampard has just suggested that Mourinho wouldn’t take a point tonight. I would suggest that they would. 2-1 to Leicester, for me Clive.

“Can you counter attack a counter attacking side?” asks Ruth Perdue. “Leicester is the best counter attacking side in the league, in my humble opinion. Will Mou try to counter them?”

Arsenal are the only team to beat Leicester in the league this year, and they won in the midlands with a counter-attacking team, with bags of pace, and Walcott preferred to Giroud up top. Chelsea will have more of the ball, but they also have plenty of pace in their team tonight. Perhaps the selection of Ramires ahead of Fabregas is a sign that Chelsea will indeed try that tactic, should they take the lead.

“That is some fantastic work by the Leicester City grounds crew,” writes Daniel Strauss. “Do you think Wayne Rooney circa that 2010 Nike World Cup ad could have pulled that off?”

I’m going to go with no. It’s an odd reference, but a fantastic ad, so enjoy.

Stat attack

• Of the 92 Football League club, Leicester remain the only club to have scored in every single league game.
• Christian Fuchs, who provided a delicious no-look pass for Vardy’s record-equalling goal against Manchester United, has not lost a competitive match for club or country in nine months! Nine! 18 matches in all! He starts today for Leicester at left-back.
• Eden Hazard is still searching for his first Chelsea goal of the season. This is his 23rd appearance in all competitions.
  

We have a winner! There are a couple of you going down the line of “Vardy Verbal A-Salt and Vinegar.”

Kudos to J.R. in Illinois and Wolfman.

“Ready? Sorted!” suggests Colin Wells, whilst a health-conscious Mark Judd opts for “Lardy Vardy given the calorific value of crisps. No slur on the goal-machine himself is intended,” Judd politely clarifies.

“Goal scoring records and now his face on crisp packets. Gary Lineker must be fuming,” notes David Flynn.

Frank Lampard is in the Sky studios tonight for MNF. Ranieri signed him from West Ham in 2001.

Claudio Ranieri was the catalyst. I owe him a lot, I’m really pleased that he’s doing so well.

He might not know his way around all the buttons yet, but Lampard is an absolute natural pundit. He can provide an insight into the attacking side of the game that Nevilla and Carragher never would. I would love him to get the gig permanently to replace GNev. But he’s still playing with New York City FC, of course.

Swooooooon

A certain brand of crisps have released a limited edition packet for tonight’s match: Vardy Salted. There will be a packet on every seat tonight – I’m assuming just in the home section. We face the very real possibility that by the end of the night, a packet of crisps will be being sold on eBay for literally dozens of pounds.

They could have surely come up with a better pun than that. Salt and Vardy. Chat Shit, get Bacon, perhaps.

Any suggestions are welcome to michael.butler@theguardian.com or @michaelbutler18.

Another Leicester man facing his former club tonight is Steve Walsh, the club’s head of recruitment. Walsh – not to be mistaken with Leicester’s tough-tackling defender (and striker, for a bit) of the 1980s and 90s – worked for Chelsea for 16 years, and was instrumental in bringing Gianfranco Zola and Tore Andre Flo, Didier Drogba and Michael Essien to the club and worked under Mourinho. At Leicester since 2008, he helped Leicester go from League One to top of the Premier League. Most notably of late, he signed Mahrez for £400,000 and Caen’s N’Golo Kante, who has arguably been the best defensive midfielder in the league this year. If certain reports are to be believed, Arsenal want him to head up their recruitment in January.

He’ll be in the stands tonight, watching down on proceedings. Here is an interview The Guardian did with Walsh last year. He describes André Villas-Boas as ‘a real techno-kid.’ Ha.