Leicester City 4-2 Burnley
IRELAND’S JIMMY DUNNE marked his Premier League debut with a goal but it wasn’t enough to stop Burnley from falling from defeat at Leicester.
Dennis Praet’s thunderbolt sealed a comprehensive win as the Foxes moved top of the table on goal difference and sent out a warning to their rivals.
Harvey Barnes, Erik Pieters’ own goal and James Justin helped proved the hosts are over last season’s disappointment of missing out on the Champions League on the final day.
Chris Wood’s opener for Burnley briefly threatened to derail Brendan Rodgers’ side and while Dunne pulled a goal back, the Foxes were comfortable winners.
Leicester maintained their 100% record following a 3-0 win at West Brom last week – the first time they have won their opening two league games since 2015, when they went on to win a shock title.
Burnley’s positive start was rewarded when Wood opened his account after 10 minutes. Charlie Taylor’s deep cross found the striker at the far post and he outmuscled Justin to take a touch and fire into the bottom corner.
VAR gave the goal after a handball check while Leicester also felt Justin had been pushed.
But the lead lasted just 10 minutes as Barnes grabbed his first goal since March. His initial ball to Jamie Vardy created havoc but when Burnley blocked him off the striker found Timothy Castagne to tee up Barnes to roll in.
Burnley struggled to contain their hosts and they lost Brady to injury before half-time.
Youri Tielemans shot straight at Pope ahead of the break but Leicester made their dominance count five minutes after the restart. A brilliant defence-splitting ball from Tielemans picked out Castagne and the defender’s low cross was inadvertently turned in by Burnley substitute Pieters.
The Clarets’ chances had been limited since Woods’ opener but the New Zealand international blew a fine opportunity to level after 59 minutes. A neat move involving Josh Brownhill and Jay Rodriguez ended with Wood scuffing his shot straight at Kasper Schmeichel.
He was left to rue the miss when, two minutes later, Leicester moved further ahead. Without Tarkowski Burnley looked brittle and Ayoze Perez exposed them when he tricked his way past some half-hearted challenges and his deflected cross found Justin who swept in his first top-flight goal.
It should have eased any nerves but Dundalk’s Dunne headed in Dwight McNeil’s free-kick with 17 minutes left to make it 3-2.
But Praet rifled into the top corner from the edge of the area 11 minutes from time to seal the points.
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