Leicester City thrashed Wolverhampton Wanderers 4-0 in the Premier League on Sunday for their first points away from home this season to move off the bottom of the standings and out of the relegation zone.
Back-to-back league wins moved a clinical Leicester — who had lost all their away games — up to 16th while struggling Wolves fell to a fifth defeat in six games to drop to 19th as the home fans booed Steve Davis’ side at the final whistle.
“It is our first away win and it is extra special. Psychologically it (moving out of the relegation zone) is a boost,” Leicester skipper and goal scorer Youri Tielemans said.
“We did the basics really well and scored early… We knew they were going to come at us and there would be space. We executed that really well.”
Wolves started brightly but it was Leicester who drew first blood when a clearance fell to Tielemans and the midfielder fired a volley from more than 20 yards out that arrowed into the top corner.
A buoyant Leicester side then cut open the Wolves defence 11 minutes later as Harvey Barnes played a one-two pass with Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall before firing a shot from an angle past goalkeeper Jose Sa to double the lead.
Wolves nearly halved the lead towards the end of the half but keeper Danny Ward pulled off a spectacular save to deny Daniel Podence’s lashing strike before safely catching Diego Costa’s follow-up header.
Leicester’s top scorer James Maddison put the game to bed in the second half when he made room for himself at the edge of the box before whipping in a low shot past Sa for his sixth goal of the season, leaving Wolves deflated.
Brendan Rodgers’ side completed the rout when they won the ball back from a sloppy Wolves side, with Timothy Castagne’s uncontested cross turned in by Jamie Vardy as the 35-year-old striker scored their fourth goal and his first of the season.
“Collectively, we were very, very good. We carried a threat, and defensively we were excellent. Our pressing has been very good and all the goals were fantastic,” Rodgers told the BBC.
“Confidence will grow and we’ll get better. The concentration is better, everybody is focussed, pressing at the right time and forcing teams into mistakes. Then we know we have the quality in the final third.”