Michael Appleton Guides Leicester City to Victory Against Swansea
Michael Appleton steadied the ship at Leicester as his side came away with a deserved 2-1 win at the Liberty Stadium against Swansea to pile the pressure on Swansea manager Paul Clement.
It was Leicester who, under caretaker manager Michael Appleton, had the better of the early play at a wet and windy Liberty Stadium.
Shinji Okazaki was denied a goal inside the first minute as he saw his glancing header from a Marc Albrighton cross pushed away from an alert Lukasz Fabianski.
Okazaki then turned provider for Albrighton, cutting the ball back to the edge of the area who unleashed a well-stuck shot that Fabianski was equal to and acrobatically push the ball over the bar.
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Fabianski had to be alert again to deal with decent 25-yard effort from Jamie Vardy following a long pass forward, before blocking at the feet of Wilfred Ndidi to keep Swansea in the game, as Leicester had the better of the early proceedings,
A tame flick from Tammy Abraham was all Swansea mustered on goal before Leicester got their deserved breakthrough.
Riyad Marhez did well to keep the ball in play, before whipping a delicious cross towards goal. Federico Fernandez could only head the ball past a helpless Fabianski and give Appleton and Leicester the lead their play warranted.
Paul Clement's Swansea looked laboured and off-the-pace, with a wayward 25-yard strike from Bayern Munich loaneeRenatoSanches summing up Swansea's first half display.
Leicester looked lively every time they attacked, suffering no hangover following the departure of Craig Shakespeare. Mahrez especially looking back to his best, while Vardy, a willing runner in the channels to stretch the game, was linking up well with the impressive Okazaki.
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Half-time came as Leicester looked well worth their goal advantage with very little coming in the way of an attacking threat from Swansea.
The second half couldn't have started much worse for Paul Clement and Swansea as Leicester made it two within five minutes of the restart.
Leicester countered in typical fashion from a Swansea set-piece as Albrighton drove towards the Swans goal. He dinked a pass through to Mahrez, who squared to Okazaki to tap in from close range.
There was a suspicsion of offside but Okazaki was correctly adjudged to be level with Mahrez when he played the ball across, to the delight of the Leicester fans.
Swansea needed a quick response to get back back in the game, with Alfie Mawson duly obliging.
Jordan Ayew flicked on a Luciano Narsingh corner which found Mawson, who did brilliantly to swivel and turn before hooking the ball past Kasper Schmeichel to give Swansea a route back in the game and half the deficit.
The Swansea crowd were lifted by the goal as their team looked for a quick second, although Leicester did well to quash a Swansea equaliser by taking the sting out the game, bringing on Andy King for Okazaki to bolster their midfield.
Leicester could've made it three had Fabianski not been in inspired form, blocking Vardy's shot in a one-on-one to keep Swansea in the game.
Swansea plugged away for the leveller as Ayew and substitute Wayne Routledge had efforts on goal, but didn't trouble Schmeichel in goal.
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With that, Michael Oliver blew for full-time to give Michael Appleton his first win in temporary charge of Leicester, while Swansea suffer their fourth defeat in five Premier League home games as the Swans couldn't break down a stout and resolute Leicester.
