Soccer

Enzo Maresca’s Leicester crowned Championship winners – 5 key matches

The Foxes had already secured automatic promotion back to the Premier League at the first attempt and sealed the title on Monday.

Enzo Maresca celebrates with Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall after Leicester’s victory over Southampton on April 23
Enzo Maresca celebrates with Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall after Leicester’s victory over Southampton on April 23 (Nick Potts/PA)
By PA Sport Staff

Leicester clinched the Sky Bet Championship title on Monday evening thanks to a 3-0 victory at Preston.

It has been a brilliant season for the Foxes under Enzo Maresca – even if they had threatened to make a mess of it in the last few months before securing automatic promotion back to the Premier League.

Here, the PA news agency charts five key games in their memorable campaign.

Leicester 2 Coventry 1 (August 6)

Leicester set the tone for the season with three points in the opening game against Coventry. In Maresca’s first game in charge they claimed the bragging rights in the M69 derby thanks to a late Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall double after Kyle McFadzean had put the Sky Blues ahead.

Southampton 1 Leicester 4 (September 15)

Leicester were too good for Southampton at St Mary’s
Leicester were too good for Southampton at St Mary’s (Steven Paston/PA)

Having started the season with four successive wins, the Foxes bounced back from their first loss against Hull with a real statement performance.

They hammered Southampton at St Mary’s with goals from Jamie Vardy, Kasey McAteer, Wilfred Ndidi and Stephy Mavididi, and impressed with their fluid and attacking style.

West Brom 1 Leicester 2 (December 2)

The Foxes showcased their grit and never-say-die attitude with a memorable last-gasp win at The Hawthorns. Dewsbury-Hall had given them a 72nd-minute lead only for Josh Maja to level for the Baggies in the 89th minute.

But Leicester did not feel sorry for themselves and stole the three points deep into stoppage time when Harry Winks scored a breakaway goal.

Sunderland 0 Leicester 1 (March 2)

Jamie Vardy earned the Foxes a vital win at Sunderland
Jamie Vardy earned the Foxes a vital win at Sunderland (Owen Humphreys/PA)

Leicester had began to wobble and lost three games in a row – including a shock home defeat by relegation battlers QPR – when they travelled to the Stadium of Light for a midweek game.

The Foxes stopped the rot with a vital win, as Vardy’s 13th-minute strike proved the difference.

Leicester 5 Southampton 0 (April 23)

Maresca’s side had been stumbling over the line after losing six of their previous 11 games, but they came good when it mattered with their best display of the season.

Leicester put Southampton to the sword for a second time this season, thanks largely to Issahaky Fatawu’s hat-trick.

Ndidi and Vardy also scored as a five-star performance put them on the brink of a Premier League return – which was then confirmed with two games left to play following defeat for rivals Leeds at QPR.