Blackburn 1-4 Leicester: Jamie Vardy fires Foxes to the top of the Championship as Enzo Maresca’s visitors dominate at Ewood Park

• Leicester City surged back to the top of the Championship on Sunday afternoon
• Jamie Vardy was one of four Foxes goalscorers against Blackburn at Ewood Park
• Mail Sport’s new WhatsApp Channel: Get the breaking news and exclusives here

Love him or hate him, you can’t deny Jamie Vardy is a true master of riling both opposition defenders and supporters.

Even at 36, Leicester’s talisman just can’t resist making a beeline straight for the nearest rival fans after scoring.

As Vardy said in a recent Sky Sports interview: ‘It’s part of the game, you need to embrace it all. If fans are giving you a bit they’ve got to get some back.’

So after he thumped Leicester into a 2-1 lead here, Vardy stood right in front of the Blackburn end, made a telephone gesture to his ear then pointed to the name on the back of his shirt.

Vardy has been Mr Dial-a-Goal throughout his career, from Stocksbridge Park Steels to England.

Jamie Vardy scored to help Leicester surge back to the top of the Championship table

Vardy (left) was on-target to help fire Leicester back in-front at Ewood Park on Sunday

Vardy celebrates in front of a set of Blackburn supporters after firing Leicester back in front

On this occasion, the veteran helped Enzo Maresca’s side back to the top of the Championship table with an eighth win from nine league games so far.

After Rovers’ Sammie Szmodics had cancelled out an early header by Wout Faes, Vardy’s goal came at a crucial moment when Leicester had just ceded a little bit of control.

A Kelechi Iheanacho penalty and a deft dinked finish by Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall made absolutely sure late on.

It was another exhibition of Leicester’s attacking firepower as they bid to return to the Premier League at the first time of asking.

Rovers boss Jon Dahl Tomasson described Leicester as a ‘Premier League side’ post-match and their strength for this level is obvious. They could well run away with the title like Burnley did last season.

But Maresca disagreed. ‘It is easy for everyone to say Leicester is a Premier League club but we have to show it.’

On Vardy’s enduring quality, he added: ‘He is an unbelievable professional in terms of his working every day, with his open mind to learn the different things we are asking of him.

‘In the box, he is still the best, probably even including the Premier League. I don’t think there are many strikers like Jamie. ‘The most important thing is he is enjoying it.’

Rovers will face easier opponents but any early season optimism at Ewood Park is fast fizzling out. In the end, they were well beaten on the scoresheet.

Kelechi Iheanacho added Leicester’s third from the penalty spot in the second-half

Centre-back Wout Faes opened the scoring as Leicester took control against Blackburn

Tomasson said: ‘The score doesn’t reflect the game. It is a great effort but we gave some unnecessary goals away.’

Leicester’s fourth-minute opener came almost accidentally. Abdul Fatawu, the 19-year-old Ghanaian winger on loan from Sporting Lisbon, sent in a cross that almost caught Aynsley Pears out, the Rovers keeper forced to touch it over the top.

Dewsbury-Hall tapped the corner short to Fatawu, whose back post cross found the tall, threatening figure of Faes only loosely marked by the Rovers defence.

Leicester manager Enzo Maresca watched on as his side dominated

The Belgian’s header was emphatic enough, back across Pears and into the far bottom corner.

‘We’re top of the league’ sang the travelling fans but the element of control that early opener gave them was quickly surrendered.

They got into a muddle trying to pass out from keeper Mads Hermansen initially and it resulted in Szmodics directing a tame header which troubled nobody.

But from that restart, Hermansen tried to pass out to Harry Winks on the edge of Leicester’s area under pressure from Szmodics. Winks hadn’t clocked Lewis Travis in his orbit and the Rovers captain stole the ball off him.

There was still work to do but a defensive tackle by Ricardo Pereira presented Szmodics with possession and he composed himself well before rolling home.

Having shot themselves in the foot, Leicester suddenly looked a little vulnerable. Jannik Vestergaard lost the ball in midfield and Rovers streamed forward on the break only for Dilan Markanday to shoot straight at Hermansen.

MATCH FACTS

Blackburn Rovers (4-2-3-1): Pears (Wahlstedt 62); Brittain, Carter, Hyam, Pickering (Rankin-Costello 88); Travis (c), A. Wharton (Tronstad 83); Markanday (Telalovic 83), Sigurdsson (Dolan 61), Moran; Szmodics

Substitutes not used: Hill, S. Wharton, Garrett, Gilsenan

Manager: Jon Dahl Tomasson

Scorer: Szmodics 9

Booked: Carter, A. Wharton

Leicester City (4-3-3): Hermansen; Pereira (Choudhury 70), Faes, Vestergaard, Justin; Ndidi, Winks, Dewsbury-Hall; Fatawu (McAteer 58; Casadei 76)), Vardy (c) (Iheanacho 76), Mavididi (Akgun 70)

Substitutes not used: Stolarczyk (GK); Coady, Souttar, Daka

Manager: Enzo Maresca

Scorers: Faes 4; Vardy 28; Iheanacho pen 82; Dewsbury-Hall 88

Booked: Fatawu, Mavididi, Vestergaard

Referee: James Linington

Attendance: 15,937 (3,270 away)

But Leicester have too much quality to be second-best for too long in games and they were ahead again before the half-hour.

There were groans from the locals when Faes was again left unchecked at a corner, but the defender couldn’t make contact this time.

Vardy then hit a rasping half-volley from the edge of the box that bounced off the top of the crossbar.

That proved to be merely a sighter. A few moments later, Wilfred Ndidi led a charge down the right and knew precisely where Vardy would be in the centre.

The first-time, low cross was inch-perfect, and though Vardy’s first touch appeared to have taken him too far wide, he almost used the angle to his advantage, lashing his shot left-footed and high into the net.

The former England frontman had made a similar dart but on the opposite side just before half-time but was ignored by Stephy Mavididi, who found Dewsbury-Hall instead. He could only pick out the side-netting, however.

Just after the restart Vestergaard tripped Andrew Moran right on the edge of Leicester’s box but Szmodics bent the free-kick wide.

But Leicester carried constant threat on the counter and Vardy rounded Pears before cutting back to Ndidi, whose shot was blocked by Harry Pickering’s vital intervention.

Pears injured himself in the process of trying to close down Vardy and had to be replaced.

Maresca tried to shore things up by bringing on Hamza Choudhury but they lost another sub, Kasey McAteer, to injury when he pulled up when almost through on goal.

Vardy was withdrawn at that point as well, taking one last opportunity to rev his team-mates up for the final push as he walked off.

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall was sent through on goal to score Leicester’s final goal against Blackburn

Sammie Szmodics (left) initially pulled Blackburn back on level terms against Leicester

Rovers really should have equalised just after that. Tyrhys Dolan steamed into the Leicester box down the left and cut back to Travis, whose shot was saved by Hermansen before falling to Szmodics. His effort was blocked too.

But Leicester were handed the chance to settle it when Hayden Carter tugged the shirt of Vestergaard at a corner.

There was a total absence of protest as James Linington pointed to the spot and Iheanacho made no mistake from 12 yards.

Dewsbury-Hall then added some late embellishment, dinking home from a tight angle after Yunus Akgun’s neat pass in behind.

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