Leicester City send Nottingham Forest bottom as James Maddison runs the show: live reaction

"Feels good to get the first win and very much needed."

"It was too long coming to be honest, although we have had some tough games. There was some pressure on us. Good night for the players and the supporters. A season changing game and now we can press on.

"We showed the players some videos of the last time we played Forest (who won). We have technically gifted players and tactically very good players but you cannot win matches without mentality and without defending well.

"We have to be tactically cuter. You cannot win games just with the ball at this level. It's about how you press the game without him."

"Such a shame for the country and the boy himself (that Maddison is not even in the England squad) to have a player of that quality, and his personality as well. I really hope he can somehow get into the England side. He has personality, quality. He is up there. I love Phil Foden and Mason Mount, Jack more from the side.

"He's 25. When I first came in he was a young guy, haircuts and bags and all that but he has now matured. He has become a father, He is very focused. He is a guy that would be so supportive of the squad. To have him there, if you are in a trouble in a game, he can beat a man, get you a goal, you've seen his freekick. I'd hope he'd at least be in the squad."

"Very tough summer. We have been able to reset. We want to remind the players, encourage, support and coach. These guys have pints of resilience. We have tuned the corner but now we have to back it up at the weekend."

Gary Lineker: "Confirmed: LCFC  is the best team in the land…….that is East Midlands."

Jamie Carragher: "Massive. Big for both managers but even more so for Brendan, it would have been very hard if they didn't win this."

Gary Neville: "Just a bit of quality in the final third tonight (that let Forest down)"

and I'm sorry to say that Forest, also on 8 points but with a much worse goal difference, are now 20th.

We will have reaction from both managers. Stick with us for a bit just in case Cooper does go right away. And then we will get to the thoughts of Jason Burt and John Percy.

Could hardly have gone better for Forest. Maddison, excellent, scored two. A classy finish apiece for Barnes and Daka. Three lovely goals followed a lucky opener. Forest look in bad trouble, they played okay in patches but had nobody who could finish. Whether Steve Cooper is given time to bed these players in or not remains to be seen. 

But Brendan Rodgers is safe for a while yet, at least.

Soumare breaks and Cook is trying to catch him. The tiring Forest captain chops down the Leicester man. Wouldn't have been a massive surprise to see a red there but thankfully it is yellow.

The 90 minutes are up, Maddison has unsurprisingly been named the MoM. The Leicester fans are enjoying a good barrack of the poor old Forest goalie and I think almost everyone involved will be happy to see the ref wrap it up.

Game draws to a close.

Maddison now taken off. Warm applause from the crowd and a kiss and a cuddle from Brendan. Marc Albrighton, for it is he, comes on.

James Maddison pretty much completes the set with a yellow card. He caught Lodi dos Santos, lightly, as the Forest man went past him. Seemed a harsh yellow to me but hard to tell if Maddison said something or....

Leicester give it away foolishly, Johnson is sent through, and that's a smart save from Ward at the near post. Corner.

One jammy goal, and three lovely ones for Leicester. Doesn't quite feel like a 4-0 but Leicester won't care about that. Forest plugging away gamely, I guess the manager could make the case that he hasn't loss the dressing room but on this evidence at least they don't have anyone who can put it in the net.

Oh Forest! At least one player has his head in his hands, chap there's actually pulled his shirt over his head in dismay. 

Daka plays it out to Maddison, who drills in a hard low cross back at him. Patson Daka with a cheeky, technically superb wee flick and that's a delightful goal.

Penny for Jamie Vardy's thoughts? He could probably do with the cash after Becky's three mil folly I guess.

Soumare's not been on long but has already had his name taken.

A freekick for Forest, this is a decent chance to put Leicester under some pressure.

Dear me. Floated out in the most pathetic manner.

Lingard, who looks a fraction of the player at West Ham last term,  was booked a few minutes ago and is now getting the hook.

Here is John Percy:  "Forest's fans are now chanting the name of Steve Cooper, who will be under huge pressure to save his job.

It seems a message to the Forest board, but there is little doubt that Cooper could pay for this defeat by becoming the latest Premier League manager to be dismissed.

Forest will be bottom of the league if this result stays as it is, and owner Evangelos Marinakis did not envisage a relegation battle after that £150m spend."

Maddison recovered well enough from that knock; here he is driving forward and shooting not far wide. Hat-trick is on.

Awoniyi missed a good chance in the second half. He has been subbed off. His replacement, Dennis, has just missed a good one here as well. He's very relieved to see the offside flag.

Clearly wiser football sages than me have made this point, but no question that the goalscorer role is the one that really sets the established Premier League teams apart from the promoted ones.

While the Leicester physio busies themself with that, Vardy comes off. Not quite at his best but will come on for the run I expect. Patson Daka replaces him.

Forest fans in good voice, reports Jason Burt: "Credit to the Forest fans. 3-0 down away to Leicester and they are making all the noise with a chant of "Forest are magic". Fair play to them."

No sooner, have I said that, than he has gone in for a hard challenge with Lodi dos Santos and come off the worst. Got his foot trapped under the Forest player. He's down. Is he ok?

Maddison getting a hero's reception anytime he's near the ball, or the side of the pitch.

Meanwhile, Barnes shoots, and hits the arm of Cook. But the ref reckons that wasnae Cook's fault. 

NCFC deal with that corner and another subsequent one.

They have had two brilliant chances, one in each half. I guess they aren't second bottom for no reason. Leicester, though, look much more like their old selves. Brisk, buzzy.

Jason Burtreports from the ground: " Steve Cooper cutting a forlorn figure on the touchline. He has made a triple substitution at half-time but looks like a man who knows the game is up - and not just this match. Would be a huge surprise if the Forest manager survives this. Forest fans valiantly trying to get behind their team; Leicester supporters goading Cooper with a chant of "getting sacked in the morning"."

High speed duel between Vardy and Aurier. The latter wins, at the expense of a corner 

How's he missed that? Forest break, shoot, and the Leicester keeper palms it straight into the path of Johnson, who surely only has to guide it into the empty net. But instead he produces a truly horrific first touch and the moment passes.

Leicester have a corner, Maddison goes over to take it and gets a big hand from the crowd. Faes, the new Belgian, has done some decent defensive work in this half so far, and now has a chance to make an impression at the other end. Floats his shot over.

LCFC have let in FIFTEEN second half goals so far this season.

And the visitors have had most of the ball in the early exchanges.

Well, Man United scored three in the second half yesterday, so... 

Ndidi has come off, Soumare comes on. Ndidi had been carrying an injury into the match.

O'Brien, Kouyate and Williams off.

Yates, Freuler and Aurier on.

The Forest players were at each other in the first half.

This is a textbook #inquest pic.twitter.com/5bqavnqcRQ

— Adam Hurrey (@FootballCliches) October 3, 2022

of Jason Burt's take on the match: "Even this early in the season the stress is palpable in the East Midlands. So far this is not what Leicester expected and not, reasonably or otherwise, what Forest (or rather Marinakis) expected after such an incredible spree post-promotion with 22 players signed and close to £150million spent."

Daniel Zeqiri: "Two pretty slow Forest centre-backs dropping off to cover Vardy, oceans of space between the lines with midfielders not retreating. Either sit in a shape with two tight lines or squeeze up - neither here nor there at the moment."

Leicester fan account Come On Leicester: "Really like what I've seen from Wout Faes so far, very assured on only his second start in the PL"

Nick Miller: "Thing about the Premier League is I’m used to Forest losing, just not while everyone else is watching.

And the second one 35 seconds after the restart.

but a peach for the second from Harvey Barnes.

Leicester well on top, probing and teasing, and the ref brings the first half to and end. 

Is Steve Cooper about to deliver his last half-time team talk as Forest manager?

Quite a good brace of celebrations from Maddison. A 'throwing darts' and then a 'cups ears to crowd'. 

He has touched the ball more than anyone in the match, 44 and counting, and is running the game.

Maddison delivers but no dice on this occasion.

Leicester not yet singing 'can we play you every week' but I bet they would like to hack the fixture computer accordingly. They break now, streaming forward, everyone suddenly wants the ball. It goes to Vardy who wins a corner.

A good chance for Lingard, who receives the ball in the centre with a bit of space around him. But he looks short on confidence, he dithers, he fails to control it and the moment passes.

Gorgeous freekick from James Maddison. The keeper has his weight going the wrong way, he thinks Maddison is aiming to curl it the other way but, well, he's not. It kisses off the inside of the post. Even if he had gone the right way, it was a perfect hit. Maddison has 50 PL goals for Leicester; this is his 8th free.

Dewsbury-H with a good run. Kouyate, tracking back, brings him down. Tough for the NFFC DMC because the backline, shocked and stunned. have sat back very deep, ceding a lot of space to Leicester's quick, direct runners.

It is handily placed for a freekick.

Lineker: "Keeping my gob shut until the end of the game. I do realise some of you would like that to be permanent."

Other Leicester fans, though, are singing their hearts out.

With 11, no side has dropped more points from winning positions this term than Leicester. But they will have no better chance than this to get a win in the bag.

They can do better than that - they can double it. That's a smashing strike from Harvey Barnes. He cuts in from the left, he gets his head up, and he strikes with both accuracy and power into the far corner. Cracking goal, well played young man.

An element of good fortune. Now can Leicester hold the lead?

James Maddison has looked better than most on the pitch and he gets first to a second ball here, tries his luck at goal and gets a lucky break as it hits the defender, McKenna as he tries to get back into position.

Forest's best moment! They have cut LCFC open down the centre. Good work from Lingard and then a fine pass from Gibbs-White to slip it through for Awoniyi who gets a decent contact on it, beats the keeper and......... hits the post! 

Faes got the wrong side of his man there.

N Williams now has a chance to deliver a freekick in for Forest. Ward claims this well.

LCFC, who are making all the running, go close again with a freekick that just needed a final tou h as it flashed through the Forest box.

An effervescent start on Filbert Way.

Dewsbury-Hall has twice gone close, Vardy's just gone through but couldn't beat the 'keeper ????️#LEINFO pic.twitter.com/sipIkCJuF2

— Leicester City (@LCFC) October 3, 2022

Williams has attracted the attention of the referee when Barnes flicks the ball at Williams's hand. Bit harsh to be booked for that. On the other hand, he could/should have been given a yellow for the foul a minute ago.

Vardy has another chance a few seconds later when he is sent through but he looks a bit low on confidence and has shot wide. Sort of opportunity he was burying without fail in his pomp.

Williams slides in hard, and illegally, on his fellow number seven, Barnes.

From the resulting freekick, a nice delivery (I think from Maddison) and Vardy gets into space, to head wide.

That corner was something from the training ground for Leicester. And it ought to have stayed there.

However, they are well on top and playing the better football. Another shot over.

Cross sails all the way over from the right. Barnes, on the Leicester left, controls it and plays it back. Justin has a shot, which is deflected behind for a corner.

NF have a freekick near the LCFC goal. Whipped in, and deflected behind for a corner. Oh gosh.... 

Defended ok on that occasion.

Making a nuisance of himself is Vardy, a dinked cross across. Then Maddison keeps it alive with some excellent footwork, stands the ball up for Dewsbury-Hall, who should have done a lot better with a header from five yards. Well, to be clear, he should definitely have scored.

Forest's Captain Cook is caught offside from that second corner.

Forest have an early corner, Leicester defend it with all the assurance we have come to expect from them at set pieces, ie none. Keeper comes out waving at his mother, it's half cleared and O'Brien can have a shot. Deflected behind.

Excellent atmosphere there as Dewsbury-Hall makes the first move of the game, driving forward and shooting over.

Leicester: Ward, Castagne, Evans, Faes, Justin, Ndidi, Maddison, Tielemans, Dewsbury-Hall, Barnes, Vardy. Subs: Albrighton, Iheanacho, Perez, Amartey, Daka, Praet, Iversen, Thomas, Soumare.

Nottingham Forest: Henderson, Williams, Cook, McKenna, Renan Lodi, Kouyate, O'Brien, Johnson, Gibbs-White, Lingard, Awoniyi. Subs: Worrall, Mangala, Hennessey, Surridge, Yates, Freuler, Aurier, Dennis, Boly.

Referee: Robert Jones (Merseyside)

It looks like a back four for Forest. Let's play.

Julen Lopetegui and Bo Svensson are emerging as Wolverhampton Wanderers’ top targets after the dismissal of Bruno Lage.

Wolves are close to finalising their shortlist and Lopetegui, the Sevilla manager, and Mainz’s Svensson are understood to be high on the list of candidates.

Lopetegui was close to taking over at Wolves six years ago after the takeover by Fosun but accepted an offer to manage the Spain national team instead.

The 56-year-old went on to manage Real Madrid, but is in danger of being dismissed this week following Sevilla’s poor start to the season.

Wolves remain interested in the Spaniard and will monitor the situation with Sevilla, who play Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League tomorrow night.

Svensson, 43, is also under serious consideration after his impressive work in the Bundesliga. After taking charge in January last year, the former Denmark international has guided Mainz to 12th and eighth-placed finishes and earned praise for his coaching methods.

that from John Percy and Mike McGrath.

"A few went away to internationals but quite a lot stayed behind. We have used the time wisely. Get to know the players, build.

"Lingard has undoubted quality and experience and we need a good version of him to give us a chance. We neeed everybody to think about what it takes to win, about our game plan."

for  Wout Faes, who will play at the back for Leicester. He is a 24-year-old Belgian.

Don't want to draw focus from this important fixture, but more very good sports broadcasting on this just now as Gary Neville explains why Trent Alexander-Arnold's body position is defensively wrong, and holding him back. Gary, showing off the footwork that made him a very useful young cricketer, demonstrates how Trent needs to get low and move.

Jamie Vardy's return to Leicester's starting line-up in the only change to Brendan Rodgers' side for the home match against fellow strugglers Nottingham Forest.

Vardy replaces Patson Daka as Rodgers otherwise keeps faith with the side that lost 6-2 to Tottenham on September 17, with Wilfred Ndidi fit to start after leaving Nigeria's international camp early with a hamstring problem.

Jesse Lingard returns for Forest as Steve Cooper makes three changes from the side beaten 3-2 by Fulham last time out.

Lewis O'Brien and Cheikhou Kouyate also returne as Remo Freuler, Ryan Yates and Willy Boly all drop to the bench, where Serge Aurier awaits his debut.

"You remember that picture of Maradona against Belgium when there is all those players around him and they look frightened? I reckon that is how the United players were against Haaland. When you play someone genuinely world class there is that fear factor. The only player I had that against was Thierry Henry 2002-2004. You don't think, I am going to stop him scoring. You think, I hope he does not embarrass me. When I played him I could not think about the other players or the game. Just him."

Jamie reckons that the striker is going to take MCFC to another plane. Gurreh agrees. God knows how anyone catches them now.

The two teams on display tonight, of course, have many different problems. 

"Continuing positivity about the attacking side of our game because that has been okay but sometimes the game is about the desire to stop the ball going in your own goal. We played well against Tottenham but this is a league where you have to close down every bit of space. The international break has given us time to work. 

"This is a season-changing game. We should have won a game. A victory in a derby gives you confidence. Great opportunity for Vardy, he loves these occasions and he will be a threat, however long he plays for."

have been beaten in their last four. No shame in losing to City and Spurs, but getting turned over at home against Fulham and Bournemouth is bad, especially given that they led in both matches.

Leicester: Ward, Castagne, Evans, Faes, Justin, Ndidi, Maddison, Tielemans, Dewsbury-Hall, Barnes, Vardy. Subs: Albrighton, Iheanacho, Perez, Amartey, Daka, Praet, Iversen, Thomas, Soumare.

Nottingham Forest: Henderson, Williams, Cook, McKenna, Renan Lodi, Gibbs-White, O'Brien, Kouyate, Lingard, Johnson, Awoniyi. Subs: Aurier, Worrall, Mangala, Hennessey, Surridge, Yates, Freuler, Dennis, Boly.

Referee: Robert Jones (Merseyside)

"Supporters heading to the LCFC stadium tonight should be advised that the M1 is in the process of being closed in both directions between Junction 20 and Junction 21" = helpful tweet from the club's supporter account.

Smiling broadly there as he enters the stadium. Nervous?

Leicester chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha to attend fixture

Apparently he doesn't come very often. Presumably it's not because he's dying to see Forest, but rather to run the rule over B-Rodge and/or tell him something man to man.

Perhaps we can get Mr Percy to explain what the heck is going on with football in the region at the moment! These two, bottom and second bottom as discussed, and then Wolves 18th and Villa 14th. In the Championship, similarly grim viewing for Midlanders as a collective: Blues 15th, Stoke 17th, Baggies 21st i.e. one point above the dropzone, and poor old Coventry flat last on just six points. Although, in fairness, they have played just eight matches and others in the division as many as 11. But still. Whappen?

Good evening and welcome to our Monday night football blog of Leicester City vs Nottingham Forest. The home side are flat bottom of the Premier League and they have managed just one point in their first seven fixtures. It's not quite historically awful (Palace in 17/18 lost all of their first seven) but it is pretty bad and a man of Brendan Rogers's experience must be expecting that the bell will toll soon if he doesn't start winning.

Their visitors have not got a lot to shout about either, of course. Nottingham Forest have got only four points so far from their seven fixtures, they have lost four of their last five, so Steve Cooper likewise won't be planning a kitchen extension for the time being.  If there is a sense of a shared plight between the two gaffers, you wouldn't now it from Cooper's press conference comments the other day: "Brendan is a really experienced manager and a really good manager as well - he doesn’t need any sympathy or support from me. In regards to any manager, we go through all of those emotions and some guys have done it a lot longer than I’ve done it, I’ve only been doing it for three years."

It's you or me, by the sounds of it... Funnily enough, though, neither of these leads the betting market for the next Prem manager to go odds. The man with his backside in that particular bacon slicer is Ralph Hasenhüttl of Southampton, even money favourite to be on his bike next.

Brendan has said: "I’m really looking forward to it because I know the heat is on. Everyone is looking at us and that’s what you want, you want to go and perform." We will see which 11 men he sends out to fight for his job at about an hour before kick off, which is to say 7pm ahead of an 8pm start. No doubt Gary Neville and/or Roy Keane will be on Sky Sports Monday Night Football ABSOLUTELY DESTROYING Manchester United later so I expect we'll check in on that in case one of them does something especially performative newsworthy.

That brilliant Midlands football man Mr John Percy will be dropping in I am sure with expertise and nuggets of news about Leicester and Forest. And here is Perce with his preview:  Leicester City vs Nottingham Forest has become ‘El Sackico’