Premier League: Leicester win to stay clear in top four race

Leicester: Red-hot striker Kelechi Iheanacho scored an 11th goal in his last eight games in all competitions as Leicester City poured more misery on woeful West Bromwich Albion with an emphatic 3-0 Premier League win at the King Power Stadium on Thursday.

Jamie Vardy and Jonny Evans were also on target for the home side, who stayed third on 59 points from 32 games, four clear of fourth-placed Chelsea and West Ham United and on course for Champions League qualification.

Second-bottom West Brom look as though they will be playing Championship football next season having been unable to make up ground on those above of them. They are nine points from the safety zone with six matches remaining.

FA Cup finalists Leicester did the hard work in the first half with a performance full of pace and guile, one that earns them a first Premier League win since a 5-0 home success against Sheffield United in mid-March.

“It was a good win, any win is a big win. Our intensity was really good in the first half hour. I wasn’t happy at half time as our passing wasn’t good enough,” Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers told BT Sport.

“I am not thinking about the other teams, we have to think about ourselves. We can only control ourselves.” The home side hit the front midway through the first half as Youri Tielemans’ pinpoint through-ball put Timothy Castagne in acres of space and he teed up Vardy for an easy finish.

Leicester added a second three minutes later as the visitors stood static at a corner. The ball deflected off West Brom midfielder Matt Phillips and perfectly into the path of Evans, who headed home.

The away side were reeling, and it was almost 3-0 when Castagne’s low drive crashed back off the post. The Belgian was again afforded far too much time and space by a defence in disarray.

It seemed only a matter of time before Leicester would score again and Vardy’s burst into the box was coolly finished by Iheanacho for a 3-0 halftime lead.

The second half lacked the intensity of the opening period as West Brom performed a damage limitation exercise and Leicester seemed content to simply hold on to their sizeable advantage.

“In the end we thoroughly deserved to get beat. It was great pressure from Leicester that forced us into so many mistakes,” West Brom manager Sam Allardyce said.

“They are on a high, you can see why they are in the top four, they are as good as anyone in the league apart from Manchester City.”