Leicester City 0-3 Newcastle United: Jacob Murphy at the double as Foxes edge closer to Premier League exit | OneFootball

Following a weekend which has already seen Southampton become the first team to suffer relegation this season, Leicester City were dealt a huge blow in their quest for survival courtesy of a 3-0 defeat against Newcastle United on Monday.

Ruud van Nistelrooy’s men suffered a 2-0 loss to Manchester City last time out, their 15th defeat in 19 games under the Dutch manager, while Newcastle saw off Brentford on their return to the Premier League duty off the back of March’s EFL Cup triumph against Liverpool.

Leicester City needed just 25 minutes to force Nick Pope into a first save of the day as Jamie Vardy got on the end of a Wilfried Ndidi knockdown but was unable to catch his compatriot out at the near post.

That was a fine start for the Foxes, or so they thought, until Newcastle broke the deadlock through Jacob Murphy moments later after some lovely work from Harvey Barnes to release Valentino Livramento down the left before the full-back provided an inch-perfect cross for Murphy to tap home from close range.

Murphy was in on the act once again less than 10 minutes later, much more fortuitously this time around, after Fabian Schar’s effort from inside his half cannoned off the crossbar to the winger, who showed great composure to fire past Mads Hermansen.

Having passed a late fitness test to be included in the starting lineup, Alexander Isak would have fancied his chances of finding the back of the net for a third successive game and had his first bite at the cherry in the 13th minute, albeit all to no avail.

Profiting from the absence of Anthony Gordon, Harvey Barnes was handed the nod to start at left wing, and after playing a key role in his side’s opener, Barnes got himself on the scoresheet against former employers thanks to his predatory instinct from inside the box off the back of Joelinton’s saved strike.

Barney’s goal triggered a mass exodus of supporters, with a section of the Leicester faithful already deciding they had seen enough.

Unsurprisingly, loud boos rang around the King Power Stadium at the sound of the half-time whistle as Leicester stared down the barrel of an eighth straight league defeat in front of their fans.

Now in a position of huge comfort, Eddie Howe’s men unsurprisingly took their foot off the gas a bit in the opening exchanges of the second period as Leicester’s dominance of the ball possession intensified.

However, the hosts’ best chance of the half came near the end of proceedings when Wout Faes planted a header just wide of Nick Pope’s left-hand post.

Down the other end, Tonali had one final crack at the Leicester goal, after which the final whistle was sounded.

Courtesy of Monday’s victory, Newcastle have moved up to fifth in the Premier League, level on points with Chelsea despite having played one game fewer.

Leicester, meanwhile, are 15 points shy of safety, and with just seven games to play, it is looking like a matter of when, not if, their return to the Championship will be confirmed.