Leicester left Newcastle still rooted in the Premier League relegation zone with a 4-0 thrashing of the Magpies on Sunday, while West Ham’s Champions League ambitions were tarnished by a 0-0 draw at Burnley.
Despite being hit by a coronavirus outbreak that left Brendan Rodgers without seven players, the Foxes gave Eddie Howe another reminder of the task he faces to keep Newcastle at the top tier when Youri Tielemans struck twice at the King power.
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How will be able to call on the resources of the Saudi sovereign wealth fund in the January transfer window and the results elsewhere this weekend leave them just three points behind safety.
But Newcastle will face Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United in their next three games and in this form will be lucky enough to escape that run without another serious blow to their goal difference.
Leicester had won just two of their previous nine games in all competitions and were dumped from the Europa League by Napoli on Thursday. However, they got the break they needed to take the lead before half time when James Maddison connected with Javier Manquillo to win a penalty.
With Jamie Vardy watching from the bench, Tielemans took responsibility from the spot to open the score seven minutes before half time.
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Patson Daka’s form has seen him earn his spot for Vardy in the Premier League in recent weeks and the Zambian had the easiest task of scoring his seventh goal of the season from Harvey Barnes’ selfless pass to double Leicester’s lead.
Tielemans completed a fine team move for his second of the afternoon, before Maddison’s good finish exacerbated Newcastle’s pain five minutes from time.
The win lifts Leicester to eighth and back in the fight for a top four finish, while West Ham squandered the chance to extend their lead over the chasing pack. The Hammers have won just one of their last five league games when Nick Pope frustrated David Moyes’ men with a series of saves at Turf Moor.
West Ham are one point ahead of number five Manchester United but Tottenham, who are out of action this weekend due to their own Covid outbreak, are just two points back with two games in hand. A point also contributes little to Burnley’s survivability as they remain in 18th place, but they are now just two points away from safety.
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