Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy scored his 100th and 101st Premier League goals as Brendan Rodgers' side recorded their first win since returning from the enforced break against Crystal Palace.
Vardy's goals followed Kelechi Iheanacho's 48th minute opener in a game where the Foxes were never really troubled by Roy Hodgson's men as the East Midlanders secured a big win which could be vital in the race for a UEFA Champions League spot.
The away side meanwhile have now suffered three consecutive losses in the league and defeat at the King Power Stadium has all but ended their faint hopes of finishing in a lucrative European place.
Story of the Match
Lively Leicester start
Leicester manager Rodgers had called for his side to start games stronger after the Foxes' midweek defeat to Everton and they almost broke the deadlock after 10 minutes when James Justin's thunderous effort cannoned off the crossbar following some intelligent build up play.
Just five minutes later, Ayoze Perez was denied after capitalising on the visitors' failure to clear the ball from a corner as Leicester looked for the opener.
Palace come close
The South London side had spent the majority of the first half-hour of the game on the back foot however the Eagles came close to opening the scoring from a Luka Milivojević free-kick which brushed past the wrong side of Kasper Schemichel's post following Iheanacho's late-timed challenge on Christian Benteke.
Perfect start for the Foxes
The Foxes have scored the second highest amount goals in the second-half in the league this season and continued that pattern once Iheanacho opened the scoring shortly after the restart.
A teasing ball into the box from Youri Tielemans after a well-timed pass from Perez found the feet of the Nigerian, who took his tally to double figures for the season after bundling the ball past the onrushing Palace goalkeeper Vicente Guaita.
More records for Vardy
It has been a tough time for Leicester's top scorer since returning from lockdown but his long wait to join the Premier League 100 club was over after 77 minutes.
Substitute Harvey Barnes capitalised on poor defending from Palace defender Mamadou Sakho allowing him to poach the ball away from the Frenchman and lay across for Vardy who stroked home into an empty net to to add yet another milestone to his collection.
Vardy back to his best
Vardy's earlier goal seemed to bring back his usual swagger and he once again linked up with sub Barnes to add further salt to the Palace wounds in stoppage time.
The former England international latched onto Barnes' threaded through ball and had all the time in the world to comfortably slot past Guaita to make sure the points would be staying in the East Midlands.
Takeaways
Perez at number 10?
Vardy will rightly take the highlights for another memorable day in his career but Ayoze Perez deserves a special mention for his performance.
Playing in behind the two strikers instead of out wide where he has mainly operated this season, Perez linked up well across the pitch with his positive thinking, as well as defending from the front.
Whilst James Maddison is likely to fill that position when he returns from injury, the Spaniard has shown he is more than capable of playing there too.
Vardy back amongst the goals
It has been another stellar season in front of goal for Jamie Vardy but signs of concern were beginning to show from Leicester fans after Vardy failed to score in any of the previous five games the Foxes had played before his two goals today.
Vardy's return to goalscoring form has come at the perfect time for Leicester as they prepare for their final assault on reaching the Champions League.
Palace fail to threaten
For Crystal Palace, it was a disappointing performance where they never looked like scoring.
In the first-half Roy Hodgson's team looked organised and disciplined as they tried to frustrate Leicester but couldn't create their own chances to punish the home side.
The likes of Wilfried Zaha and Benteke all had quiet games for the Eagles and whenever they were given a rare sight of goal, were wasteful with their chances and in the end fell to an uninspiring defeat.
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