Leicester 3-0 Brighton: Brendan Rodgers' side up to third after comprehensive win

Report as Leicester ease past Brighton at the King Power Stadium; James Maddison's double and a Jamie Vardy strike sealed victory; Leicester move up to third, one point behind league leaders Tottenham; Brighton stay 16th

Monday 14 December 2020 06:19, UK

Leicester City moved to within one point of the Premier League summit after a comprehensive 3-0 victory against Brighton.

James Maddison's deflected strike (27) sent Brendan Rodgers' side on their way before Jamie Vardy (41) scored his 12th goal of the season to double the advantage.

Maddison (44) rubber-stamped Leicester's dominance just before the break with a stunning strike into the top corner, and they were rarely troubled by Brighton as they eased to victory in the second half.

How the teams lined up | Match stats
Premier League table | Fixtures | Results

The win sees Leicester move up to third, one point behind league leaders Tottenham and Liverpool in second. Defeat leaves Brighton 16th, two points clear of the relegation places.

How Leicester swept aside Brighton...

An open start to the match saw good chances at both ends, with Kasper Schmeichel blocking Alireza Jahanbakhsh's effort before the Leicester goalkeeper made another fine save with his leg when Danny Welbeck was through one-on-one.

At the other end, Vardy struck the post from an incredibly tight angle before Leicester eventually took the lead in the 27th minute.

James Justin's cross eluded Vardy but the ball dropped kindly for Maddison, whose shot took a deflection past Mathew Ryan.

The hosts doubled their lead through Vardy, who was on hand to tap home Justin's excellent low cross from close range, and his 12th goal of the season survived a VAR check for offside.

Brighton had no answer to Rodgers' side and Maddison made it 3-0 just before half-time, twisting and turning inside the penalty area before curling a stunning strike into the top corner of the net.

The second half lacked the urgency of the first as Brighton perhaps went into damage limitation mode and Leicester sat on their three-goal cushion.

Neal Maupay's looped shot after an hour provided some easy work for Schmeichel while at the other end Ryan was called into more pressing action to deny Christian Fuchs' powerful strike.

Ndidi's driven effort cleared the crossbar late on and there were no further goals at the King Power Stadium, with Leicester doing all the damage in the first half.

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What the managers said...

Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers: "We knew this would be a real test. I enjoyed the game from a technical perspective. Graham Potter sets his teams up well. We were surprised and had to change after 20 minutes. With a bit more quality we could have scored one or two more. But overall we're delighted with the performance and the result.

"Still lots to improve. We've got a lot of young players playing and they're a joy to work with. The table is starting to take shape."

Brighton boss Graham Potter: "Disappointing. The box is where it matters and Leicester were better than us. We stuck at it in the second half but clearly over the course of the 90 minutes not good enough to get something from the game.

"In the end they were a little bit too good for us and sometimes that happens. That is our 12th game, we are quite early on in the season so we have a lot of time but we know we are fighting to improve, fighting for points. We are going to keep humble and keep going."

Man of the match - James Maddison

Maddison: We wanted a good start

Leicester City forward James Maddison:

"That was really good, we wanted to have a good start. There have been a few games where we have not got off to a quick enough start and that is something we were looking to improve on."

Opta stats - Leicester continue to impress

Leicester won their eighth Premier League game of the season - the most in the division. It's their joint-highest tally of wins from the first 12 games of a top-flight season alongside 2019-20.
The Foxes have scored 3+ times in the first half of a Premier League game for the first time since October 2019 vs Southampton (5 goals).
Since the start of the 2015-16 season, only Harry Kane (128) has scored more Premier League goals than Leicester striker Jamie Vardy (108). Jamie Vardy has been directly involved in 14 goals in 11 Premier League appearances for Leicester this season (10 goals, 4 assists).
Brighton have won just two of their opening 12 games in the Premier League this season (D4 L6), their joint-fewest at this stage of a top-flight campaign in the club's history (also two in 1979-80 and 1980-81).