Appleton Delighted With Swansea Victory

First Team
21 Oct 2017
1 Minute
Caretaker manager Michael Appleton was thrilled with the attitude of the team as Leicester City secured their first away win of the Premier League season to move out of the relegation zone.

- Leicester City beat Swansea 2-1 in the Premier League at the Liberty Stadium
- An own goal and a Shinji Okazaki strike put City in front before Alfie Mawson pulled a goal back for Swansea
- The win is the Foxes’ first away victory of the season and lifts them out of the relegation zone
- Caretaker manager Michael Appleton was happy with the amount of chances the team created

An own goal from Federico Fernandez and a Shinji Okazai strike either side of half time at Swansea City’s Liberty Stadium had the Foxes in control, before Alfie Mawson pulled one back to set up a tense finish.

However an accomplished performance from the Foxes saw out a 2-1 victory that lifted them up to 13th place in the table as Appleton was left to reflect on many positive aspects from a game that could have seen them score plenty more, but for a fine display from Swans’ ‘keeper Lukas Fabianski

“The first half, especially in that opening 30 minutes we created a large amount of opportunities and the way we created them was very pleasing,” said Appleton at full time.

“The way we moved the ball, certainly in the first half [pleased me]. We recognised that there was an opportunity to move through the thirds and obviously we used Vicente Iborra really well today. It was his best game so far.

“I suppose being 2-0 ahead and in control of the game and conceding a sloppy goal like we did, but to then see the game out and counter at the right time was pleasing too.”

There was just one change for the Foxes going into the match as Okazaki came into the starting XI to play behind Jamie Vardy and put in a performance that was worthy of being on the winning side.

Appleton added: “Shinji did great for us and to be fair when he has played, he’s always done that. What Shinji brings is what he does out of possession. He knows how to deal with a no.6 and the job he did on Leon Britton today was really pleasing.

“There was an opportunity today to come away from home with a little bit less pressure and put a performance in that would make everybody feel a little better, and I think they did that."