Enzo Maresca release threatening change as Leicester City turn screw

Latest Leicester City news from LeicestershireLive as Preston’s Greg Cunningham delivers his verdict on Foxes’ win at the King Power Stadium

Leicester City “turned the screw” on Preston in the second half thanks to a tactical tweak by Enzo Maresca, says North End defender Greg Cunningham. The Foxes scored three goals in the second half to beat Preston 3-0 at the King Power Stadium on Wednesday night. Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall struck a double and Kelechi Iheanacho was also on target.

The victory lifted Maresca’s men back to the top of the Championship, two points above second-placed Ipswich Town. It was their ninth win in their opening 10 league matches as they continued their relentless assault on promotion back to the Premier League.

“It just shows that they are a top side and they were very clinical on the night,” said Cunningham. “I thought we restricted them to a limited amount of chances and were defensively solid.

“I felt we could’ve gone in at half time one-nil up and, for the possession they had, we would’ve probably deserved it. I thought we were more threatening on the break and that was part of the game plan. You come here and you know they are going to dominate the ball, but we were waiting for that loose pass and we were going to be a threat on the break.

“We had a few chances like that in the first half and if we’d gone in one-nil up, I feel it would’ve been deserved. And then second half they just kind of turned the screw. They changed their style a little bit, their tens were making a lot more threatening runs on both sides. It was just kind of pinning us back a little bit and you are just trying to stay solid and see out the pressure.

“We ended up conceding and then you are in that balancing act of: ‘Do we go for it here? Or do we just hang loose for a bit?’ I think you have to be sensible with it and just let the game pan out a little bit longer. But look, they are a good side. Three-nil is a tough result to take, but we can take some positives from the game and we have to dust ourselves off.”