Leicester City cruised to a comfortable victory against a poor Sunderland in Claudio Ranieri’s first competitive game in charge. The Foxes were three goals up within half an hour as Jamie Vardy’s opener was followed by two from Riyad Mahrez. In the second half Jermain Defoe pulled one back before Marc Albrighton got Leicester’s fourth and Steven Fletcher then scored for the Black Cats.
In truth, the score line was not a reflection on Leicester’s dominance and they could have scored more. After a slow start in which they were thankful to Kasper Schmeichel for keeping out efforts from Defoe and Younes Kaboul, they took control of the game and were quickly out of sight.
Vardy opened the scoring on 11 minutes with a flicked header from an Albrighton free-kick, before Mahrez got Leicester’s second eight minutes later with a similar finish that left Costel Pantilimon rooted to the spot.
Sunderland had a defensive horror-show and, on 25 minutes, Lee Cattermole brought down Mahrez in the penalty area and the playmaker stepped up to send the keeper the wrong way and effectively wrap the game up.
Vardy also missed a great chance just two minutes later as he fired straight at Pantilimon when clean through on goal.
Again, Vardy and Mahrez also had decent chances for Leicester at the start of the second half, as the latter hit the post with a lovely curling effort.
Defoe pulled one back on 60 minutes but that joy was short-lived as more terrible defending from Sunderland presented Albrighton with the chance to score from the edge of the box after 66 minutes.
Sunderland were then lucky as Pantilimon got away with handling the ball outside his box, before substitute Fletcher got a second for Sunderland on 71 minutes after Jeremain Lens lifted the ball over Schmeichel to present the striker with a simple finish.
Vardy opened the scoring on 11 minutes with a flicked header from an Albrighton free-kick, before Mahrez got Leicester’s second eight minutes later with a similar finish that left Costel Pantilimon rooted to the spot.
Sunderland had a defensive horror-show and, on 25 minutes, Lee Cattermole brought down Mahrez in the penalty area and the playmaker stepped up to send the keeper the wrong way and effectively wrap the game up.
Vardy also missed a great chance just two minutes later as he fired straight at Pantilimon when clean through on goal.
Again, Vardy and Mahrez also had decent chances for Leicester at the start of the second half, as the latter hit the post with a lovely curling effort.
Defoe pulled one back on 60 minutes but that joy was short-lived as more terrible defending from Sunderland presented Albrighton with the chance to score from the edge of the box after 66 minutes.
Sunderland were then lucky as Pantilimon got away with handling the ball outside his box, before substitute Fletcher got a second for Sunderland on 71 minutes after Jeremain Lens lifted the ball over Schmeichel to present the striker with a simple finish.
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