Vardy reaches another Leicester landmark in win v Brighton

Updated Dec. 13, 2020 4:44 p.m. ET

Associated Press

LEICESTER, England (AP) — Jamie Vardy marked another club landmark with a goal as Leicester eased to a 3-0 win against Brighton in the Premier League on Sunday.

The striker played his 222nd Premier League game for the Foxes, moving level with the number of times Muzzy Izzet represented the club in the competition.

Vardy scored his 12th goal of the season in between a double from James Maddison as Leicester produced a rampant first-half display to secure back-to-back league victories for the first time in a month.

It could have been a different story, however, after an open start to the match saw good chances at both ends.

Leicester goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel did well to block Alireza Jahanbakhsh’s effort before making another fine save with his leg when Danny Welbeck was through one-on-one.

Before that, Wilfred Ndidi and Maddison should both have worked Mathew Ryan but failed to hit the target, before Marc Albrighton stung the palms of the Brighton goalkeeper.

After a frenetic first 10 minutes, the game settled. However, Leicester looked lively again as the midway point of the first half approached and a good spell of pressure resulted in the opening goal.

Maddison dragged another effort wide and Vardy cracked a shot against a post from a tight angle after the ball bounced loose inside the Brighton box. The Foxes took the lead after 27 minutes when James Justin’s cross eluded Vardy and the ball dropped nicely for Maddison, whose shot took a minor deflection past Ryan.

It would have been 2-0 had Ryan not got down quickly to make a brilliant save to deny Ayoze Perez from Justin’s cutback.

Lewis Dunk twice caused Leicester problems at set pieces in quick succession but each time he directed his header over the crossbar as Brighton looked for a response.

The Foxes got their second goal after 41 minutes. Vardy was on hand to tap home Justin’s low cross from close range, with his goal surviving a VAR check for offside.

Maddison added a third goal before halftime, twisting and turning just inside the penalty area before creating a yard of space for himself to bend a left-foot shot into the far top corner of the net.

The second half lacked the entertainment of the first as Brighton perhaps went into damage-limitation mode and Leicester lacked the same urgency, with its 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 10 minutes later to make a fine save to deny Christian Fuchs.

Ndidi’s driven effort cleared the crossbar late on.

Brendan Rodgers’ side moved up to third in the Premier League standings, a point behind both Tottenham and Liverpool. Brighton is two points above the bottom three after only one win in its last 10 league matches.

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