Leicester 4-2 Burnley: Match report as Foxes go top of EPL

Leicester City made it two wins in two and went top of the Premier League with a 4-2 victory over Burnley at King Power Stadium.

Following last week’s victory over West Brom, the wins mean Leicester City have won their first two league games for the first time since their title-winning campaign.

After Chris Wood opened the scoring for Burnley, Harvey Barnes equalised before an Eric Pieters own goal early in the second half put the Foxes ahead. James Justin scored his first league goal for the club after an Ayoze Perez pull-back to double their lead.

Jimmy Dunne headed in on his Premier League debut to provide a late scare for Brendan Rodgers’ side, but any chance of a comeback was wiped out when Dennis Praet arrowed the ball into the top corner.

The contest began exactly how both teams would have expected: Rodgers looking for his 100th win in the Premier League and Leicester attacking the Claret and blue of Burnley. James Justin’s cross in the opening minutes was cut out before Barnes could take aim.

With James Maddison forced to remain on the bench due to his injury, Nempalys Mendy and Praet joined the ever-present Youri Tielemans in midfield.

After continuing to enjoy the majority of possession, Leicester had reason to be disappointed when Lee Mason showed Jay Rodriguez a yellow card rather than a red after a high-foot on Justin.

Moments later, Burnley took the lead after 10 minutes. A whipped Charlie Taylor ball was brought down by Wood and fired into the bottom corner. The goal means the former-Fox has now netted three times in the last three outings against his former team.

Following their goal, Sean Dyche’s men began to press higher than they previously did to cause problems for the makeshift centre-back partnership of Caglar Soyuncu and Wilfred Ndidi.

Rodgers’ men levelled with their first proper attack on the night through Barnes. The Burnley-born winger’s ball to Vardy caused confusion between the Burnley defence, before Timothy Castagne teed up Barnes to slot the ball past Nick Pope.

The first-half had no opportunities, despite the Foxes dominating proceedings. In the second half, Leicester City had completed the comeback.

Youri Tielemans’ excellent pass to split the Clarets’ defence handed Castagne a chance to cross the ball across the six-yard box. Unfortunately for Burnley, Pieters inadvertently diverts the cross into the net.

Just before the hour mark, the Foxes were lucky to remain in the lead. Smart play from Rodriguez opened an opportunity for Wood, but the New Zealand international failed to connect with the ball as he would have liked.

The heads of the visitors dropped when Justin netted his first Premier League goal. More impressive play from Castagne resulted in Ayoze Perez pulling the ball back to the penalty spot for Justin to pass the ball into the net.

On his Premier League debut, Dunne headed a deep free-kick beyond Kasper Schmeichel to bring his side back into the game. However, Dennis Praet concluded a sizzling performance for the hosts with a brilliant right-footed effort past Pope to deny any chance of a Burnley comeback.

Man of the Match was handed to Barnes, who scored his first goal since before the lockdown and has now been directly involved in five goals in his previous three league games against the Clarets.

Elsewhere, Demarai Gray failed to be included in the 18-man squad, with Rodgers casting serious doubt about the winger’s future. Next up for Rodgers’ men is the trip to the Etihad, a place where they haven’t won since 2016.