Blackburn Rovers 1-4 Leicester City: Jamie Vardy on target as Foxes win at Ewood Park
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Wout Faes headed Leicester into an early lead at Blackburn
Leicester regained top spot in the Championship with a hard-fought win at Blackburn.
Jamie Vardy's brilliant goal had edged the Foxes back in front at Ewood Park after Sammie Szmodics capitalised on dreadful defending to equalise Wout Faes' early header.
Rovers refused to lie down and it took a late penalty from Kelechi Iheanacho and a fourth from Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall to secure the victory.
The win made it eight league wins from nine for the Foxes as they took full advantage of rivals Ipswich and Preston dropping points on Saturday, to move two points clear at the top of the table.
Blackburn's third defeat in a row - and fourth in five Championship matches - means they drop a place to 18th, two points above the bottom three.
The game got off to a frantic start as Faes rose at the far post to nod in Abdul Fatawu's cross in the fourth minute, but Leicester's defence - the meanest in the division - imploded shortly afterwards to hand Rovers an equaliser.
Szmodics had planted a header into the hands of goalkeeper Mads Hermansen as the Foxes' attempt to play out from the back had presented the home side with a chance but the visitors failed to learn their lesson.
Hermansen unwisely gave the ball to Harry Winks, under pressure from Lewis Travis, and when Ricardo Pereira tackled the Blackburn midfielder the ball fell for Szmodics to net his sixth goal of the season.
Leicester were not to be denied, however, and when the excellent Wilfred Ndidi broke down the right and delivered an exquisite pass into his path, Vardy's touch and rifled finish into the roof of the net restored the lead.
Blackburn had chances in the second half, not least when Hermansen saved from Travis and Jannik Vestergaard superbly blocked Szmodics' follow-up effort, but Leicester's counter-attacking excellence saw them stretch away in the final 10 minutes.
Iheanacho scored from the spot after Hayden Carter had hauled down Vestergaard in the box, and Dewsbury-Hall clipped in the fourth after Yunus Akgun had led another searing breakaway to ensure Leicester won their first five away games of the season for the first time in their history.
Both teams suffered worrying injuries in the second half as Rovers keeper Aynsley Pears limped off following a collision with Vardy, and Leicester sub Kasey McAteer pulled up with an apparent hamstring problem.
Blackburn manager Jon Dahl Tomasson:
"We are extremely disappointed with the result. It doesn't reflect the game. We knew it was going to be tough against a Premier League side with a lot of good players.
"I think we caused them plenty of problems in the first half with great football, great movement, rotations. We gave two soft goals away in the first half.
"Second half, we were in the game, on top of the opponent when we got a big chance to score a goal. I think they only had four shots on target.
"I think it's a very soft penalty. You can give it, but you'd give 10 penalties in each game.
"Then the game was over. It is tough with the result. Great effort from the lads but of course gave some unnecessary goals away. We're learning on the job."
Leicester manager Enzo Maresca told BBC Radio Leicester:
"Winning a game is always important but for me today was the most important win since we started, because of the opponent. It was a very tough game, very dynamic, making it difficult to prepare the press.
"I told the players we suffered as a team, especially in the first 10 or 15 minutes of the second half when we dropped [a level], and were there helping and defending each other. For the final 20 minutes we came back to press higher and were even better.
"On the ball, we probably lost a bit of confidence because to concede a goal in this way is not easy. They were aggressive, but it's good to learn for the future, obviously.
"Jamie [Vardy] is improving a lot and in the box he is still the best."