Leicester City 2-0 Swansea City
- Published
Leicester win three in a row for first time this season
Ulloa scores eighth top-flight goal of campaign
Foxes in relegation zone only on goal difference
Swansea suffer first defeat in four games
A revitalised Leicester beat Swansea to secure a third league win in succession and move off the bottom of the table for the first time since November.
The Foxes took the lead when Wes Morgan knocked down a long ball forward to allow Leonardo Ulloa to slam in a shot.
Swansea were second best but almost equalised only for Kasper Schmeichel to crucially save from Nelson Oliveira.
Andy King eased Leicester nerves when he slotted in after Lukasz Fabianski parried an Esteban Cambiasso free-kick.
The home fans were singing 'we are staying up' after King's goal and, on current form, it is hard to argue against them.
Having been written off by many in their survival fight, nine points from nine have flipped Leicester's fortunes around to the point that a win over Swansea by a three-goal margin would have moved them out of the relegation zone.
They were a goal short but will be optimistic about avoiding relegation considering the level of their performances and with three of their last six games against rivals Burnley, Sunderland and QPR.
Four of their remaining matches are also at home and, judging by the fervent atmosphere Foxes fans created against Swansea, that could prove crucial.
Leicester are moving in the right direction compared to other teams in the relegation scrap and again showed the momentum they are enjoying with a showing of pace and energy Swansea struggled to deal with.
The home side were tigerish and tenacious from the start and had 65% of possession at the quarter-of-an-hour mark just before their efforts were rewarded with the opening goal.
Ulloa, who was only playing because of an injury to David Nugent in the warm-up, struck when defender Morgan held up a long pass before shielding the ball to allow the striker to slam in a shot for his first league goal since Boxing Day.
Marc Albrighton almost added a second goal for Leicester only to send a shot on the turn narrowly wide.
Foxes forward Andrej Kramaric also went close with a curling effort for the home side whose main concern was their failure to capitalise on their chances.
Oliveira nearly punished the Foxes when he went through on goal, only for his shot to be saved by the outstretched left foot of Schmeichel.
The home side's nerves increased when Jamie Vardy was denied a penalty following a foul by Ashley Williams before King's goal secured the three points.
Swansea manager Garry Monk:
"We probably got out-fought which I haven't said too many times this season.
"We knew with the crowd and recent results that the intensity would be high in the first 20 minutes and we didn't really get a grip of it.
"Nelson Oliveira had a great chance and he did well to stay on his feet. If we had got a goal then the atmosphere would have changed."
- Published18 April 2015
- Published13 April 2015
- Published20 April 2015
- Published18 April 2015
- Published20 June 2016
- Published7 June 2019