EPL: Leicester City 2-0 Everton

Jamie Vardy puts Leicester City 1-0 ahead against Everton

Claude Puel made a winning start to life as Leicester City boss as the Foxes eased to a 2-0 victory against troubled Everton.

Jamie Vardy opened the scoring at the King Power Stadium before Demarai Gray’s deflected shot doubled Leicester’s lead but the result leaves the visitors in the relegation zone after more than a quarter of the campaign.

Leicester dominated the opening exchanges and created a string of early opportunities with Gray’s shot flying just wide before Wes Morgan blazed the ball over the bar and Ben Chilwell failed to hit the target when well-placed.

Everton could not get out of their own half and Puel’s team deservedly took the lead in the 18th minute when Vardy finished off a swift counter-attack led by Gray and then Riyad Mahrez.

The visitors were fortunate not to fall further behind four minutes later when Jordan Pickford made a good stop to deny Mahrez.

When Everton finally got a foothold in the match Aaron Lennon wasted a presentable opening only for Leicester to double their lead just before the half-hour mark.

It came in comical fashion when Gray’s weak cross was scuffed into his own net by the unfortunate Jonjoe Kenny, although the goal was eventually credited to the Leicester player.

Everton had penalty appeals waved away by the referee when the lively Lennon went down under Christian Fuchs’ challenge before Kevin Mirallas lashed an ambitious effort wide.

The Merseysiders improved after the interval but Leicester remained tight at the back and continued to look dangerous on the break with Gray a constant menace while Vardy almost scored again with an overhead kick.

Everton’s Oumar Niasse went closest to halving the deficit but Vicente Iborra should have made it 3-0 in the last few minutes as Leicester ran out comfortable winners and moved up to 11th in the Premier League table.