Vardy gives Puel perfect start at Leicester

London, October 30: Claude Puel made a winning start to his tenure as Leicester City manager after his side defeated Everton 2-0 at home in the Premier League.

The hosts opened the scoring in the 18th minute when Jamie Vardy smashed home Riyad Mahrez's right-wing cross. Their lead was doubled 11 minutes later when Everton defender Jonjoe Kenny sliced Demarai Gray's left wing cross into his own net.

The result compounded a miserable week for Everton, who had caretaker manager David Unsworth in charge following the sacking of Ronald Koeman last Monday.

The away team enjoyed the bulk of the possession as the game wore on and Unsworth brought on Gylfi Sigurdsson for Wayne Rooney with just over a quarter of an hour still to play, but it was Leicester who were again the more threatening side in the closing stages.

Everton remain 18th in the standings, having lost six of their 10 matches this season, while Leicester are up to 11th.

Leicester move up to 11th as Claude Puel's tenure gets off to the perfect start#LEIEVE pic.twitter.com/HWW7kDXSLf

— Premier League (@premierleague) October 29, 2017

Earlier, Brighton and Hove Albion recovered from conceding an early goal to draw 1-1 with Southampton in a dull clash of south-coast rivals, a result that leaves both clubs in mid-table.

Southampton took the lead in the seventh minute when Steven Davis pounced after a brilliant free-kick from James Ward-Prowse came back off the woodwork.

Newly-promoted Brighton levelled shortly after the break when Glenn Murray headed in a Pascal Gross cross from the right at the back post.