The last time the sides had met, Dave Bassett had been in charge of Leicester for the first time and Robbie Fowler was in the business of signing off. At Liverpool, they no longer have the man who scored a hat-trick at Filbert Street and Leicester were also spared Michael Owen. Not quite an equal exchange but the away side left out the flu-ridden Ade Akinbiyi.
Instead, Liverpool played Leicester old boy Heskey in attack and it was his header back across goal after 17 minutes that, half cleared, fell to Dietmar Hamann. The German thudded a shot past Ian Walker's post.
By any standards, it was a tough task for Liverpool to smuggle their controversial £850,000 signing from Everton into the ground. Where do you hide a man with peroxide hair and a beard to match? For the record, Abel Xavier, who should play against Leeds on Saturday, was in the directors' box, two rows behind Leicester chairman John Elsom and his manager Bassett.
Bassett gave Matthew Piper, 20, his Premiership debut in attack and the striker started brightly. But the best chance of the early stages fell to Liverpool's Stephen Wright who beat Walker after a run down the right only to see Jacob Laursen kick his shot off the line.
Just as Liverpool seemed to have tightened their grip, Leicester bit back. On 29 minutes, Nicolas Anelka's misplaced pass dropped into the stride of Matthew Jones whose shot beat Jerzy Dudek and narrowly missed the goalkeeper's left post. Six minutes later, Piper spun clear in the Liverpool box and centred for Matt Elliott. Under close attention from the Liverpool defence the centre-back's shot just cleared the bar.
With five minutes of the first half remaining, Hamann tricked his way through the Leicester midfield and invited Callum Davidson to bring him down yards from the area. With a swagger, Patrik Berger sent the free-kick high into the stand. Back in the directors' box, Bassett tucked his notepad into his pocket and headed for the changing rooms.
He missed Liverpool's last break of the half. Head down, the ball shovelled forward with his left foot, Heskey sprinted with Andrew Impey towards the Leicester fans in the left-hand corner of the ground. His cross, which dropped woefully out of the range of Liverpool's attack, will have been reassuringly familiar to the away fans who jeered Heskey's every touch.
After the controversy that pursued Jamie Carragher's sending off over the weekend, Liverpool seemed content to stifle Leicester's modest pretensions in attack. There were seven minutes of the second half gone before the first half-chance - Dudek had to race off his line to stop Jamie Scowcroft meeting Muzzy Izzet's through-ball.
Five minutes later a vast tract of the Leicester defence was opened for Heskey to gallop through for only his second goal since England's defeat of Germany on Sept 1. Matthew Jones mislaid the ball in midfield and Hamann had only to aim at the gap between defenders. With a deftness of touch that confounded his first-half performance, Heskey gently lifted the ball over Walker.
With Anelka gradually eroding the confidence of Leicester's right flank, Heskey went close again on 64 minutes. Berger's spinning free-kick from the right found the striker alone once again but his glancing header glided away into the Kop.
The song for Gerard Houllier was only interrupted by a hiss for the announcement of an extra four minutes. They ended up merely an extension of Leicester's meek acceptance of defeat.