Appleton makes winning start to Leicester stint

SWANSEA: Leicester City won 2-1 at Swansea City yesterday in their first match since the dismissal of manager Craig Shakespeare. Caretaker manager Michael Appleton was in the dug-out at the Liberty Stadium to see his side end a run of six Premier League games without victory. The visitors went 2-0 up either side of half-time through a Federico Fernandez own goal and a Shinji Okazaki effort, with Alfie Mawson replying for Swansea.

It was Leicester’s first away win since April and took them out of the relegation zone. Shakespeare was dismissed just four months after succeeding the sacked Claudio Ranieri, architect of Leicester’s fairytale title triumph in 2016. Appleton made one change to the team that had drawn 1-1 at home to West Bromwich Albion in Shakespeare’s last game, with Okazaki replacing Kelechi Iheanacho.

The visitors made a storming start and Swansea goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski was obliged to save from Okazaki, Marc Albrighton, Jamie Vardy and Wilfried Ndidi in the early stages. Leicester duly went ahead in the 25th minute when Fernandez headed Riyad Mahrez’s cross into his own net. Okazaki added a second early in the second half, tapping in after Albrighton’s cross was steered into his path by Mahrez. Mawson reduced the arrears in the 56th minute when he hooked in from close range Earlier, winger Junior Stanislas was involved in two early goals as Bournemouth collected their first points on the road with a 2-1 victory over Stoke City in the Premier League yesterday.

Eddie Howe’s side went ahead when Stanislas set up a neat layoff for midfielder Andrew Surman, who found the net with a left-footed drive from the edge of the box. The visitors doubled their lead inside 20 minutes at the bet365 stadium after Benik Afobe was unceremoniously hacked down in the box by Stoke captain Ryan Shawcross and Stanislas stepped up to convert the resulting penalty for his first goal of the season. Mark Hughes’s Stoke switched to a more direct style of play in the second half and were rewarded with a goal through striker Mame Biram Diouf, but the lack of meaningful chances in the final phase meant the hosts suffered their fourth league defeat in last five games.