Table-Topping Foxes Win Again At Blackburn
Wout Faes' early header was cancelled out by Sammie Szmodics in the North West, before a Jamie Vardy rocket restored the visitors' lead. The iconic No.9 now has 174 goals for the Club. Kelechi Iheanacho converted a penalty in the second half, while Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall's tidy chip confirmed a fourth consecutive league win for City in the final moments of normal time. This is a result which opens up a two-point gap at the table's apex over in-form Ipswich Town.
Foxes fans arrived for the first meeting of two former Premier League champions outside the top tier via Alan Shearer Way. There were 3,269 of them in Lancashire for the occasion, all housed in the Bryan Douglas Darwen End. No relegated side has ever made a start as impressive as Enzo Maresca’s men, winning seven of their eight Championship outings so far. The nature of the league schedule, though, means there’s no opportunity for self-congratulation. The fixtures are coming thick and fast, but results on Saturday offered City another route back to the table’s summit.
Maresca made one change from Leicester’s last EFL outing – the 1-0 win over Bristol City – with James Justin coming in for the injured Callum Doyle. There were nine changes from the 3-1 Carabao Cup loss at Liverpool, on the other hand, with a familiar feel again to the XI. Once underway, Stephy Mavididi’s early cross immediately troubled Aynsley Pears in the Rovers’ net, so much so he tipped it over for an early Foxes corner. Dewsbury-Hall rolled it short to Abdul Fatawu, who crossed it with real precision onto the waiting head of Faes. The Belgium international rose highest, nodding the ball back across goal and into the bottom corner. Early goals are becoming a theme for Leicester on the road this season.
The lead was short-lived, though. Mads Hermansen’s short pass out to Harry Winks was anticipated by Hayden Carter, who harried the former Tottenham Hotspur man off the ball. It skidded off Ricardo Pereira’s extended toe and into Szmodics, with time and space. The in-form Rovers forward glanced up and booted it into a gaping net, with Hermansen displaced in front of it. Blackburn sensed an opportunity to punish Leicester further too. Andrew Moran half-volleyed over from a tight angle, while Dilan Markanday drilled it straight at Hermansen from range. City’s response was to try and dominate possession, waiting patiently for an opening to present itself in Blackburn’s backline.
Vardy, who scored his first-ever league goal for the Club here 11 years ago, was hungry for another at Ewood. He chested a high ball down and belted it towards goal, clipping the crossbar from the left-most angle of the box. Dewsbury-Hall, meanwhile, cleared the bar seconds later after tidy interplay with Mavididi on the left channel. Vardy’s 159th league strike for Leicester City did come after all in the 28th minute. Wilfred Ndidi’s excellent, cross-field ball was blasted into the roof of the net, left-footed, by the No.9 with some venom. Cue another celebration for the Vardy scrapbook.
It was incredibly open at times, possession often swinging from one side to the other. Dewsbury-Hall hit the side-netting after breaking away down in the left in one such instance. The 2-1 advantage was intact at the interval as Leicester looked to extend it into the second half. Only a last-ditch challenge from Harry Pickering stopped Ndidi after Vardy’s drag-back has stretched Jon Dahl Tomasson’s home side on 54 minutes. Pickering was involved at the opposite end shortly after, teeing up Szmodics, who couldn’t keep his shot down inside the penalty area. Blackburn countered with 15 minutes to play. Lewis Travis’ effort was saved well by Hermansen, before Jannik Vestergaard stuck a leg out to divert a Szmodics follow-up away from danger.
There was a concerning moment midway through the half when substitute Kasey McAteer, who's netting five goals already this term, had to leave the pitch again after pulling up chasing the ball down the left. Maresca will likely provide an update in the days to come.
The match was put to bed later on, with referee James Linington pointing to the spot when Vestergaard was hauled to the deck by Hayden Carter. Up stepped Iheanacho, who’d just replaced Vardy, to confidently stroke the ball past substitute goalkeeper Leo Wahlstedt in front of the travelling fans. A gloss was added to the scoreline on 88 minutes. Yunus Akgün, another second-half substitute, threaded a perfectly weighted through ball into Dewsbury-Hall, who chipped it over Wahlstedt and watched it bobble over the line. The day would end with the Blue Army singing in the rain, toasting yet another victory for Maresca's flying Foxes.