- Alfie Mawson hit a belter to put Swansea up 1-0
- Martin Olsson doubled the lead before halftime
- Leicester has gone 610 minutes without scoring
Swansea City has pulled much further off the relegation zone at Leicester City’s expense as the Swans picked up a 2-0 victory at the Liberty Stadium behind first-half goals from defenders Alfie Mawson and Martin Olsson.
While Swansea continues its climb free of the drop, Leicester City is moving in the other direction, now without a Premier League goal in a whopping 610 minutes and losing for the fifth straight match. It’s the first time since 1956 that the defending champions lost five straight league games at any point during the season.
There was a penalty shout straight away in the third minute, with Swansea feeling they should get a spot-kick after a shot by Gylfi Sigurdsson struck the arm of Wes Morgan while sliding to block the shot. The Foxes were forced to do plenty of defending early, with the in-form Sigurdsson looking dangerous.
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The game eventually progressed into a back and forth midfield battle, with Swansea looking to hold possession and Leicester playing a physical foil to the hosts’ intent. Past the half-hour mark, there was another big decision for referee Jon Moss who only showed yellow to Robert Huth who clumsily went into a two-footed challenge that clobbered Tom Carroll, a decision that was met with plenty of boos around the Liberty Stadium.
The Swans would finally find a deserved breakthrough on 36 minutes. A free-kick from Sigurdsson just beyond the center circle was lobbed into the box, and it came first to the head of Fernando Llorente then Federico Fernandez, and before it could touch the ground, Mawson cannoned the ball into the back of the net with a vicious volley.
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The margin would widen just ticks before halftime as a beautiful bit of passing between Llorente, Sigurdsson, and Olsson sprung the latter down the left, cutting inside and hitting for Swansea’s second in 1st half injury time.
15 – Leicester City have conceded 15 goals in the 15 minutes before half time this season; the most in the Premier League. Lapse.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) February 12, 2017
Leicester City nearly found a way back into the game just past the hour mark with a pair of chances for halftime substitute Islam Slimani back from injury. He was threaded in by Riyad Mahrez, but Slimani was stoned by goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski. Slimani got a cross his way seconds later, but it was just out of his reach.
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Following that big chance, Swansea effectively slowed the game to a crawl as they looked to ease the game through. Leicester held much of the possession, but could do little with it. The win for Swansea pushes them all the way up past Middlesbrough into 15th, four points above relegation. Leicester, meanwhile, drops to 17th, still just a single point above the drop.