Leicester, Oct 4 (BUS): Leicester City’s James Madison scored twice in the first half as he crushed Nottingham Forest 4-0 on Monday to move away from the bottom of the table with his first Premier League win of the season.
The victory at home in the East Midlands derby took some pressure off Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers and added to the pressure on Forest’s Steve Cooper, whose now-promoting team is bottoming out after a fifth straight defeat.
The Foxes, who had taken one point from their first seven games and were the only team to not win in the First Division, led Forest on goal difference.
The visitors could have led against the course of play in the 22nd minute when Taiwo Ounii’s shot bounced off the post, but Leicester were 2-0 up with King Power fans five minutes later.
Madison broke the ice in the first minute in the 25th minute, his shot from outside the penalty area deflected the arm of Forest defender Scott McKenna, and Harvey Barnes doubled the lead two minutes later.
Forest goalkeeper Dean Henderson’s nightmare continued when Madison scored his second goal with a superb free kick in the 35th minute that flew over the wall and hit the post from inside as she entered.
Substitute Patson Dhaka, who replaced former England striker Jamie Vardy in the 62nd minute, sealed the score in the 73rd with a superb backhand from Madison’s cross.
The win, witnessed by Thai club president Aiwat Srivaddhanaprabha, was Leicester’s first clean sheet in the league this season.
“It’s been too long to be honest,” Rodgers said. “We should have won before now and we’ve had some tough matches. But I thought we were excellent tonight with a lot of intensity in the match and we pressed.
“It’s a great night for the players and it’s great for the fans. I’ve said before that it’s a game that will change the season if we can get a result here and go forward.”
The manager said he used video of Leicester’s 4-1 defeat by Forest in the FA Cup fourth round in February as a motivator for his players before the match and Madison said it worked.
“It was the perfect match for us tonight, everything looked fine; preparations and preparations this week, the coach’s team talk before. I felt comfortable and it was a great night for the club,” he told Sky. Sports.
Cuper refused to criticize a team of recently signed players who are not yet ripe, but said that Forrest gave Leicester too much space and squandered their chances.
“I don’t think about my work,” he added. “I’m doing my job. The worry on my mind is not my personal situation, Nottingham Forest has lost another football match.”