- Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (twice) and Kelechi Iheanacho got on the scoresheet
- Leicester City jump Ipswich Town to top the Championship table
Leicester City re-topped the Championship table with a deserved 3-0 win over Preston as a Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall brace and a single strike from Kelechi Iheanacho earned the hosts a fifth consecutive league victory.
Just 10 matches gone and Leicester supporters already believe they have one foot back in the Premiership as the Foxes produced another dominant, but not perfect performance against a stubborn Preston outfit who are now wounded after losing back-to-back games having previously been the only unbeaten team in the division after eight matches.
Enzo Maresca’s debut campaign as dugout chief couldn’t be going any better. Nine wins, one anomalous defeat, Jamie Vardy back in form, and everything running as smoothly as the luxury vehicles that pack out the players car park. If the Championship is billed as the toughest division in the world to get out of, then the Foxes are a PHD student sitting a primary school exam.
Everything Leicester did was controlled and unrushed, even when they had all their outfield players camping inside the opposition half. The only thing missing was a goal. No concern around the ground amongst supporters who knew that would come sooner or later.
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Harry Winks, brought in from the cold at Spurs and handed a career lifeline in the Midlands was the composer in an orchestra fledgling with talent. Stephy Mavididi and Wilfried Ndidi provided constant danger down the left-wing, while James Justin and Abdul Fatawu did the same on the other flank. In contrast, the lonesome centre forward figure of Milutin Osmajic was Preston’s main attacking outlet.
Crosses into the box were the first method of attack, intricate passes through the middle were the second and if neither achieved the desired outcome then lumping it long for Jamie Vardy to chase was plan c. Preston did well to remain focused in defence for long periods before tiring.
Dewsbury-Hall was denied an opening goal by Liam Lindsay’s decisive last-ditch tackle after combining with Mavdidi to beat Preston’s offside trap as Ryan Lowe’s side were frustratingly restricted to less than 20 per cent possession after half an hour.
However, Leicester threatened to undo all of their hard work in the closing minutes before the interval when Duane Holmes dragged a golden chance wide. Head in his hands, Preston had failed to capitalise. He did better with a harder effort that forced a strong glove from Mads Hermansen before Vardy sought immediate retaliation with a trademark run resulting in the ball just dipping out of reach.
It didn’t matter for much though as Dewsbury-hall finally got the better of Preston’s stubborn defence by reacting quickest to Liam Millar’s attempted interception and finishing with a well-connected pinpoint strike into the bottom corner to put the hosts in-front in the 60th minute.
Leicester had their tails up and the strength of their bench compared to Preston’s highlighted the difference in quality between Premier League teams dropping down a division and long-term EFL members dreaming of a place amongst England’s elite.
It was one of those substitutes that wrapped up the three points as Iheanacho tapped in Leicester’s second late-on. Dewsbury-Hall inflicted further misery on the forlorn visitors by scoring his second goal of the game in the 90th minute to cap another routine win for the league’s most likely promotion candidates.
