Leicester City went top of the Premier League, if only for a few hours, after a highly contentious penalty by Jamie Vardy was enough to beat Wolves at King Power Stadium.
Vardy took his tally for the season to nine goals after sending Rui Patricio the wrong way, with Wolves’ players incensed the spot-kick was given after Max Kilman handled Dennis Praet’s cross.
Wolves claimed Kilman had no time to move his hand out of the way but referee Anthony Taylor pointed to the spot after consulting the pitchside monitor.
Portugal keeper Patricio saved a second Vardy penalty with his leg before half-time – Leicester’s eighth Premier League spot-kick of the season – after Rayan Ait-Nouri brought down James Justin.
Wolves threatened an equaliser after half-time, 19-year-old Wesley Fofana producing an excellent challenge to deny Pedro Neto a certain goal, Kilman fired over from close range, while Kasper Schmeichel made an outstanding flying save to keep out Ruben Neves.
Leicester replace Tottenham, who beat West Brom earlier in the day to go top, at the summit, two points ahead of Liverpool who are playing Manchester City at 16:30 GMT.
Perfect week for Foxes
Leicester had to dig deep in the second half as Wolves came back strongly but Brendan Rodgers’ side head into the international break on the back of six straight wins.
Three of those have come in the past week, the Foxes hammering Leeds and, in Europe, Sporting Braga before Vardy scored for the fourth successive game to see off Wolves.
Having qualified for the Europa League group stages by finishing fifth last season, Rodgers’ side are handling the busy workload of Thursday-Sunday football with aplomb.
They were hungry chasing the ball and intelligent when they had possession.
Christian Fuchs went close with a low drilled attempt, Vardy forced Patricio to tip his ferocious attempt over and substitute Harvey Barnes was denied a late goal by a deflection.
Schmeichel’s save to deny Neves was breathtaking.
Having turned 34 on Thursday, the Denmark keeper remains a key ingredient of this hard-working side and showed great agility to deny Wolves an equaliser.
Strong finish but no reward for Wolves
But for Schmeichel’s wonderful save, Wolves would have headed back to the Black Country with a point.
Neves’ shot from the edge of the penalty area was heading for the net before the Dane stuck out a strong hand to divert it away.
Wolves will be upset by the circumstances that led to Vardy scoring his ninth goal in eight games.
Their players surrounded Taylor after he awarded the penalty for Kilman’s handball after watching the incident on a screen.
Wolves started sluggishly but sprung into life after Patricio kept out Vardy’s second penalty which Wolves did not bother protesting.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s side have made a solid start to the season but the Wolves boss has much to ponder during the international break – not least his side’s lack of goals.
They have managed just eight in the top flight – only the bottom four have scored fewer.
Best Premier League start – the stats
- Leicester have won 18 points in their opening eight Premier League games, their best start to a top-flight season and best start to a season since winning 19 points in their first eight games in 2008-09 in League One.
- Wolves have won none of their four away Premier League matches against Leicester (D2 L2), failing to score in every match.
- Leicester have won their past six matches in all competitions, scoring 15 goals and conceding just twice.
- The Foxes have scored seven penalties in the Premier League this season, four more than any other side. They have been awarded eight so far in 2020-21, the earliest in a campaign a team has been awarded that many. The previous earliest was Manchester United last season (16th game).
- Rui Patricio has saved three of the 10 penalties he has faced in the Premier League.
What’s next?
Leicester’s first game back from the international break is against reigning champions Liverpool at Anfield on 21 November (15:00 GMT), while Wolves host in-form Southampton on the same day at the same time.
More to follow.
How to play
Rate players out of 10 throughout or after the game. The rater will close 30 minutes after the final whistle.
Rating range key = Give it up = Pure perfection
Leicester City
Starting XI
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Squad number1Player nameSchmeichel
Average rating7.98
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Squad number3Player nameFofana
Average rating8.06
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Squad number6Player nameEvans
Average rating7.12
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Squad number28Player nameFuchs
Average rating7.28
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Squad number2Player nameJustin
Average rating7.33
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Squad number8Player nameTielemans
Average rating7.21
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Squad number24Player nameMendy
Average rating7.14
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Squad number33Player nameThomas
Average rating6.52
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Squad number26Player namePraet
Average rating6.97
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Squad number10Player nameMaddison
Average rating7.02
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Squad number9Player nameVardy
Average rating7.36
Substitutes
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Squad number5Player nameMorgan
Average rating6.68
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Squad number11Player nameAlbrighton
Average rating7.04
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Squad number15Player nameBarnes
Average rating6.72
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Starting XI
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Squad number11Player nameRui Patrício
Average rating6.67
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Squad number15Player nameBoly
Average rating5.96
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Squad number16Player nameCoady
Average rating6.00
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Squad number49Player nameKilman
Average rating5.67
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Squad number22Player nameNélson Semedo
Average rating5.87
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Squad number32Player nameDendoncker
Average rating5.44
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Squad number8Player nameRúben Neves
Average rating5.82
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Squad number3Player nameAït-Nouri
Average rating4.86
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Squad number7Player namePedro Neto
Average rating5.78
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Squad number10Player nameDaniel Podence
Average rating5.21
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Squad number9Player nameJiménez
Average rating5.19
Substitutes
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Squad number5Player nameMarçal
Average rating5.47
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Squad number17Player nameFábio Silva
Average rating5.01
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Squad number37Player nameTraoré
Average rating6.14
Line-ups
Leicester
- 1Schmeichel
- 3FofanaBooked at 81mins
- 6EvansBooked at 63mins
- 28Fuchs
- 2Justin
- 8Tielemans
- 24Mendy
- 33ThomasSubstituted forAlbrightonat 45′minutes
- 26PraetSubstituted forMorganat 80′minutes
- 10MaddisonSubstituted forBarnesat 72′minutes
- 9Vardy
Substitutes
- 5Morgan
- 11Albrighton
- 12Ward
- 14Iheanacho
- 15Barnes
- 19Ünder
- 20Choudhury
Wolves
- 11Rui Patrício
- 15Boly
- 16Coady
- 49KilmanBooked at 90mins
- 22Nélson Semedo
- 32DendonckerBooked at 41mins
- 8NevesBooked at 50mins
- 3Aït-NouriSubstituted forMarçal de Oliveiraat 76′minutes
- 7NetoSubstituted forSoares Silvaat 79′minutes
- 10Castelo PodenceSubstituted forTraoréat 60′minutes
- 9Jiménez
Substitutes
- 5Marçal de Oliveira
- 17Soares Silva
- 21Ruddy
- 27Saïss
- 28João Moutinho
- 37Traoré
- 54Otasowie
- Referee:
- Anthony Taylor
Match Stats
Live Text
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Match ends, Leicester City 1, Wolverhampton Wanderers 0.
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Second Half ends, Leicester City 1, Wolverhampton Wanderers 0.
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Maximilian Kilman (Wolverhampton Wanderers) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
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Youri Tielemans (Leicester City) wins a free kick on the right wing.
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Foul by Maximilian Kilman (Wolverhampton Wanderers).
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Foul by Raúl Jiménez (Wolverhampton Wanderers).
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Marc Albrighton (Leicester City) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
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Attempt missed. Fábio Silva (Wolverhampton Wanderers) header from the centre of the box is close, but misses the top left corner. Assisted by Willy Boly.
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Foul by Harvey Barnes (Leicester City).
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Raúl Jiménez (Wolverhampton Wanderers) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
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Attempt blocked. Christian Fuchs (Leicester City) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
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Attempt blocked. Harvey Barnes (Leicester City) right footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by James Justin.
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Corner, Leicester City. Conceded by Maximilian Kilman.
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Wesley Fofana (Leicester City) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
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Foul by Wesley Fofana (Leicester City).
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Fábio Silva (Wolverhampton Wanderers) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
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Substitution, Leicester City. Wes Morgan replaces Dennis Praet.
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Substitution, Wolverhampton Wanderers. Fábio Silva replaces Pedro Neto.
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Attempt missed. Leander Dendoncker (Wolverhampton Wanderers) right footed shot from the centre of the box is close, but misses to the right. Assisted by Rúben Neves.
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Corner, Wolverhampton Wanderers. Conceded by Kasper Schmeichel.
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