By Simon Evans
BURNLEY, England (Reuters) – Substitutes James Maddison and Jamie Vardy came off the bench to score for Leicester City as they ended Burnley’s mini-revival with a 2-0 win at Turf Moor in the Premier League on Tuesday.
Two wins and a draw in their last three games meant Sean Dyche’s Burnley would have got out of the bottom three with victory over the Foxes but Brendan Rodgers’s side were deserved winners.
The double substitution in the 72nd minute gave Leicester the extra level of quality in the final third that they needed to finish off Burnley.
The pair combined for the opener when Maddison fired Leicester ahead in the 82nd minute, collecting a lay off from Vardy and beating Burnley keeper Nick Pope with a superb curling shot.
Vardy, making his return to action after two months out with injury, made sure of the three points with a straightforward header after being picked out by a perfect cross from Harvey Barnes.
Leicester’s first win in 2022 moves them up to 12th place on 30 points while Burnley remain in 18th place on 21 points.
Vardy was delighted to have found the target and bagged three points on his return.
“It has been a long time coming. It is tough getting a big injury. To come back and to be involved in both goals and get the win, it is very good,” said the forward.
“I came on, tried to make that impact which I managed to do and we took the three points. It feels massive. I think performances have been getting better and better,” he added.
Burnley had keeper Pope to thank for keeping them on level terms for so long.
The England international kept out early efforts from Ricardo Pereira and Patson Daka and then produced a superb full-stretch save to keep out a Barnes effort just before Leicester took the lead.
Burnley had plenty of pressure but too few openings with their best chance to take the lead falling to Maxwel Cornet who poked wide when faced with the advancing Kasper Schmeichel.
Wout Weghorst missed a great chance to equalise after Maddison’s opener but fired over the bar at the back post from a corner.
(Reporting by Simon Evans; Editing by Toby Davis)
