Leicester City vs. Liverpool: Score and Reaction from 2017 Premier League Match

Leicester City claimed a stunning 3-1 Premier League win over Liverpool in their first match following Claudio Ranieri's sacking at the King Power Stadium on Monday.

In a performance reminiscent of their title-winning campaign under the Italian manager last season, Jamie Vardy opened the scoring just before the half-hour mark to register Leicester's first league goal of 2017.

A Danny Drinkwater stunner put the hosts 2-0 up ahead of half-time before Vardy made it 3-0 after the break. And, despite a spirited late effort from Liverpool that included a Philippe Coutinho goal, the hosts held out to end a run of five league defeats on the bounce and climb out of the relegation zone.

Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool, meanwhile, missed the opportunity to go third in the table, and their UEFA Champions League ambitions for next season were dealt a huge blow.

Both clubs provided their lineups ahead of kick-off, with captain Jordan Henderson absent through injury for the Reds and Leicester caretaker manager Craig Shakespeare opting to play two up front:

The Foxes looked bright from the off. They pressed forward with an intent sorely lacking of late and forced Simon Mignolet into two early saves from Robert Huth and Shinji Okazaki.

Liverpool's first sight of goal came after 10 minutes when Sadio Mane had Leicester's defence scrambling with a brilliant ball across the box.

But it was the hosts who continued to dominate, Vardy registering a rare shot on target 20 minutes into the opening half after brilliantly bringing down Kasper Schmeichel's long ball, per Squawka:

Eight minutes later, Vardy slid a fine finish past Mignolet and inside the near post to put Leicester ahead.

It was a goal straight from the 2015-16 Leicester copybook, Vardy finishing faultlessly after being put through one-on-one with the goalkeeper by a brilliant Marc Albrighton through ball, per The Times' Henry Winter:

Liverpool put their best move of the half together two minutes later to set up Coutinho for a close-range effort, but the Reds were largely abject in the opening 45 minutes.

Six minutes from the break, Drinkwater doubled Leicester's lead as he fizzed a shot home from 25 yards after Liverpool could only half clear a corner.

Per AFP's Tom Williams, the midfielder could hardly have struck the ball better:

"

Albrighton's cross headed away by Lallana and Drinkwater shows beautiful technique to zing a right-foot shot past Mignolet from 25 yards.

— Tom Williams (@tomwfootball) February 27, 2017"

Liverpool took control of the possession early in the second half, but despite decent efforts from Coutinho and Mane, they could not cause Leicester any real trouble before the hour.

And they continued to look vulnerable to a Foxes break. It was one such moment that led to Vardy's second as he was put beyond Liverpool's defence by a long ball and crossed long to Riyad Mahrez on the left touchline.

Neat work from the Algerian then opened up space for Christian Fuchs to deliver to Vardy, and the Englishman headed home from between Lucas Leiva and Emre Can just after the hour.

Julian Finney/Getty Images

Liverpool's response was to finally string some decent football together, and Coutinho netted from 15 yards 21 minutes from time, side-footing home after excellent creative work from Can.

A nervy spell ensued for Leicester as Liverpool pushed for another to set up a grandstand finish.

But it was not to be, despite Coutinho continuing to look dangerous, and Drinkwater had the best chance of the closing stages as he blasted over the bar following fine work from Mahrez.

Post-Match Reaction

Shakespeare picked out a fast start as being key to Leicester earning their first league victory of the year, per the Foxes' Twitter feed:

Klopp rued Liverpool allowing the champions to play in the same style they did last season, per BBC Sport's Tom Rostance: "We knew how Leicester would play, go back to their roots. We could have done much better. We let them be Leicester of last year—that's our fault. We should get criticised. This inconsistency makes absolutely no sense."

The German manager also admitted his side's recent poor form means his and his players' futures are on the line, per James Benson in the Daily Star: "I'm not worried—I probably should be, but we have a week to prepare for next game. We are all playing for our future here. I don't want to be too serious but that's how it is. We can be better and not doing it feels really disappointing. Thank God we don't have to play again tomorrow. Now we have to react again."