Romelu Lukaku scored twice for Everton in a 4-2 victory in the Premier League on Sunday as Craig Shakespeare suffered defeat for the first time since becoming Leicester City manager.
A much-changed Leicester side, without its regular full-backs or midfielder Wilfred Ndidi, and with Riyad Mahrez appearing only as a substitute, was unable to cope with the threat of Lukaku.
The Premier League’s leading scorer took his goal tally in the competition to 23 for the season with a fine header and a clinical close-range finish.
Leicester was behind after just 31 seconds, yet was soon in front.
Everton scored from its first attack as Kevin Mirallas raced through the centre and was pulled down by Daniel Amartey.
Tom Davies latched onto the loose ball and pushed it past Kasper Schmeichel.
Shakespeare’s side responded positively and was level with just four minutes on the clock.
Demarai Gray broke and with the Everton defenders standing off, rolled a pass to his right for Islam Slimani to slot under Joel Robles.
Everton did recover its composure to draw level midway through the half with a fine goal.
Ross Barkley found space on the right to whip over a cross with plenty of pace and Lukaku escaped Leicester’s centre-backs to power a header past Schmeichel.
Still there was time for more drama before the half came to a close, with Mirallas and Huth booked following a tangle that became a full-on confrontation.
After that, Barkley was sent clear as Leighton Baines won the ball 40 yards out and went round Schmeichel, who recovered superbly to block as the midfielder looked set to find an empty net.
From the resulting corner, taken by Mirallas, captain Phil Jagielka rose to head in his second goal in two matches.
The chances continued to come after half-time, although not with quite as much frequency.
Mirallas steered a curler into Schmeichel’s arms at one end and Slimani’s cross-shot from the left rolled just past Robles’s near post at the other after taking a deflection off Morgan Schneiderlin.
The game’s sixth goal was not far away, though, and it turned out to be Everton’s fourth.
It came from another Mirallas corner, which Jagielka headed against the back of Leicester midfielder Andy King, before the ball dropped to the far post for Lukaku to drive in.
Lorenzo Insigne atoned for a glaring first-half miss to help Napoli win 3-0 at Lazio in Serie A on Sunday and all but guarantee his team a spot in next season’s Champions League.
Jose Callejon marked his 200th appearance for Napoli with the opening goal as Maurizio Sarri’s team moved seven points clear of fourth-place Lazio.
The results :
Premier League : Everton 4 (Davies 1, Lukaku 23, 57, Jagielka 41) bt Leicester 2 (Slimani 4, Albrighton 10).
La Liga : Las Palmas 4 (Gomez 41, Boateng 49, Viera 62, Jese 83-pen) bt Real Betis 1 (Navarro 88); Osasuna 2 (Sergio Leon 36-pen, 71) bt Leganes 1 (Siovas 16); Celta Vigo 0 lost to Eibar 2 (Kike 13, Pedro Leon 51).
Serie A : Lazio 0 lost to Napoli 3 (Callejon 25, Insigne 51, 90+2).
Bundesliga : Hertha Berlin 2 (Brooks 12, Stocker 37) bt Augsburg 0; Ingolstadt 04 3 (Gross 20, Cohen 68, Suttner 72) bt Darmstadt 2 (M. Vrancic 33, 39-pen) .
