LEICESTER: Leicester City’s James Maddison scored two first-half goals as they crushed Nottingham Forest 4-0 on Monday to move off the bottom of the table with their first Premier League win of the season.

The home victory in the East Midlands derby lifted some of the pressure off Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers and piled more on Forest’s Steve Cooper, whose promoted side are now last after a fifth straight defeat.

The Foxes, who had taken one point from their first seven games and were the only winless side in the top flight, moved ahead of Forest on goal difference.

Rodgers’ side blew Forest away with three goals in the space of 10 minutes in the first half at the King Power Stadium as Maddison struck either side of a superb finish from Harvey Barnes and Patson Daka netted in the second half.

“It’s been too long to be honest,” said Rodgers. “We should have won before now and we’ve had some tough games. But I thought we were excellent tonight with our intensity in the game and our pressing.

“It’s a great night for the players and it’s brilliant for the supporters. I said beforehand that it was a season-changing game if we could get a result here and push on.”

Maddison broke the ice in the 25th minute, his shot from just outside the box deflected in off the arm of Forest defender Scott McKenna, and Barnes doubled the lead two minutes later.

Picked out by Jamie Vardy’s pass, Barnes took aim from the edge of the area and curled a superb effort into the far corner as Rodgers raised his arms in jubilation.

Forest goalkeeper Dean Henderson’s nightmare evening continued when Maddison bagged his second with a perfectly flighted free kick in the 35th that flew over the wall and clipped the inside of the post as it went in.

Substitute Daka, who came on for former England striker Vardy in the 62nd, wrapped up the scoring in the 73rd with a stunning backheel from a Maddison cross.

That dismal run has turned up the heat on Cooper, who took charge when Forest were bottom of the Championship last season and led them back to the Premier League for the first time since 1999.

It would be incredibly harsh on Cooper to sack him so soon after winning promotion, but Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis would have hoped for better results after sanctioning a hefty investment in 21 new players in the close-season.

“It is another disappointing result, there’s no doubt. We came with a plan and we were nowhere near good enough in the duels which was disappointing,” Cooper said.

“There were times where I felt we could have been more competitive, but I’m not looking at these lads and thinking they don’t care. They are just a really fresh group trying to come together.”

Published in Dawn, October 5th, 2022