Friday, May 7, 2021 at 10:52 PM• Jeroen van Poppel • Last update: 22:54

Leicester City went down in the Premier League on Friday evening. Brendan Rodgers’ team fell into the trap of the razor-sharp countering Newcastle United, which scored four goals in a row. Leicester did something back, but it turned out not to be enough for the points: 2-4. The Foxes remain in third place, but slowly have to fear for their Champions League ticket. Leicester still plays against Manchester United, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur in the last matches. Newcastle rises to thirteenth place with the victory and can count itself safely.

Although Leicester became dangerous twice in the first six minutes, the home team had to give up chances to Newcastle afterwards. A header from Federico Fernández went just wide, while goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel prevented the broken Callum Wilson from playing wide on Allan Saint-Maximin. A big mistake by Leicester defender Caglar Söyüncü, who had the ball stolen from the back by Joseph Willock, then gave Newcastle the lead. Willock was able to continue and sent the ball calmly past Schmeichel: 0-1.

The problems for Leicester were doubled when Paul Dummett headed home from a Matt Ritchie corner kick in the 33rd minute: 0-2. Jamie Vardy was close to the tying goal just before half time, but the Leicester striker’s lob was turned. The Foxes searched for openings in the second half, but got the lid on the nose in the counter. Timothy Castagne thought to intercept a depth ball but hit it too weak, leaving Wilson free to approach Schmeichel. The Newcastle striker went around the Dane after a hood movement: 0-3.

Things got worse for Leicester when Wilson checked a good cross from Matt Ritchie nine minutes later. The attacker initially hit the post and cleverly tapped the ball in from an awkward angle in the rebound: 0-4. Leicester did not give up and quickly responded. Vardy put the ball wide on Marc Albrighton, who found the intersection hard inside the penalty area: 1-4. Kelechi Iheanacho made the score even more bearable, by cutting in from the right and sliding the ball low into the short corner: 2-4. Goalkeeper Martin Dúbravka then prevented Ayoze Pérez from increasing the tension even further.