PEREZ POINTS NEWCASTLE TO SAFETY
FINALLY, Rafael Benitez can take a breather. It has been a season of stress in the search for survival but this win should see Newcastle safe. For a month Benitez has been saying one more victory would be enough and as he sensed the chance here he wore the emotions outwardly. He shouted and strained, beckoned and bawled. At the end of it his team had beaten Leicester with a determined display and moved up to 13th on 38 points, surely beyond the reach of Cardiff. It was Newcastle’s first away win since December 15 and all the more impressive coming against one of the Premier League’s form teams. Leicester have been re-energised by Brendan Rodgers, but they struggled badly to find a way through Benitez’s side. Jamie Vardy, scorer of eight goals in eight games, barely had a sniff. Newcastle striker Salomon Rondon struck a wonderful free-kick from nearly 30 yards that curled just a little too much and smacked the bar with Kasper Schmeichel beaten. Miguel Almiron then twisted in the area and got a shot away that Schmeichel parried out. So it was not a total surprise when Newcastle took the lead just after the half-hour. The move began in midfield with Almiron eventually picking up possession on the wing. He darted to the box but Ricardo Pereira put in a block and the ball fell to Matt Ritchie. His first touch was superb, taking him past Ricardo, and his second was terrific too, a cross which Ayoze Perez anticipated brilliantly, cutting across Wes Morgan and glancing a header into the far corner. Ben Chilwell tested Newcastle keeper Martin Dubravka after a one-two with James Maddison and Harvey Barnes also went close. Mainly though, Leicester were frustrated, illustrated by Youri Tielemans’ lunge on Ki Sung-yueng before the break. He was shown a yellow card but it could have been red. LEICESTER (4-1-4-1): Schmeichel 7; Ricardo 6, Morgan 7, Maguire 6.5, Chilwell 6.5; Ndidi 6 (Mendy 72min, 6); Gray 6 (Iheanacho 72, 6), Tielemans 6, Maddison 7, Barnes 6.5 (Albrighton 80); Vardy 6. Subs not used: Evans, Ward, Okazaki, Fuchs. Booked: Tielemans, Schmeichel. Manager: Brendan Rodgers 6.5. NEWCASTLE (5-4-1): Dubravka 7; Manquillo 7, Schar 7, Lascelles 7, Dummett 7, Ritchie 7; Perez 7.5, Ki 7 (Diame 82), Hayden 7, Almiron 7 (Atsu 78); Rondon 7. Subs not used: Shelvey, Muto, Fernandez, Yedlin, Darlow. Scorer: Perez 32. Booked: Ki, Schar, Manquillo. Manager: Rafa Benitez 7.5. Referee: Christopher Kavanagh 7. Attendance: 32,108.