Soccer Football - Premier League - Leicester City v Wolverhampton Wanderers - King Power Stadium, Leicester, Britain - December 22, 2024 Leicester City's Hamza Choudhury in action with Wolverhampton Wanderers' Matheus Cunha REUTERS/Jaimi Joy
LEICESTER (Reuters) - Wolverhampton Wanderers kicked off the Vitor Pereira era with an impressive 3-0 victory over Leicester City in the Premier League on Sunday to snap a four-match losing streak and move a step closer to the safety zone.
Pereira, who was appointed Wolves' new manager on Thursday, made several changes to the starting lineup from Gary O'Neil's last game in charge and the visitors played with courage and intent to score all three goals in the first half.
With goals from Goncalo Guedes, Rodrigo Gomes and Matheus Cunha, the victory gave Wolves fans some Christmas cheer as they moved up to 18th, two points behind 17th-placed Leicester.
The travelling supporters sang Pereira's name after the fulltime whistle and the beaming 56-year-old Portuguese approached the away end to acknowledge them.
"I asked them to be proud at the end of the game of our work and to make the supporters proud of our work. In three days to organise the team and give them confidence to play, that is hard," Pereira told BBC radio.
"I believe that we will stay in the Premier League and we will play at a better level than we saw today. Today I am happy as the team showed spirit and the spirit that Wolves supporters want to see."
Wolves took the lead in the 19th minute when Guedes allowed a long ball from Nelson Semedo to bounce and the Portuguese forward took a shot from a tight angle without looking up to beat Danny Ward in Leicester's goal.
Wolves were gifted a second goal when Leicester right back James Justin let Matt Doherty's long diagonal ball go through, unaware that Gomes was stealing in behind him and the winger controlled the ball before poking it past Ward to make it 2-0.
BOOS FROM HOME FANS
Boos rang around the King Power Stadium as Gomes, who could not believe his luck, celebrated with his teammates while Leicester boss Ruud van Nistelrooy looked on incredulously from the touchline.
Vardy nearly halved the lead before halftime but saw Toti Gomes clear the ball off the line and seconds later Wolves made it 3-0 at the other end for the boos to only get louder.
A Wolves counter-attack saw Guedes find Cunha making a run into the box and the Brazilian expertly controlled the pass to lose his marker before firing a shot across Ward as the ball went in off the far post.
A livid Nistelrooy made changes at halftime and Leicester had more of the ball in the second half, but Pereira's Wolves were happy to sit back with a three-goal cushion.
"The three moments that we conceded the goals were individual mistakes that occurred. That's hard to play against," Nistelrooy said.
"It's a hard one to take, especially for the players. But they bounced back (in the second half), they kept fighting, they kept going. That's the most important thing."
Scores of Leicester fans headed for the exits as the clock wound down and it was the Wolves fans whose cheers echoed around the emptying stadium.
It was the perfect start for Pereira as Wolves kept their first clean sheet in 17 away games in the league, their last coming in January in Brighton.
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
