Jamie Vardy has equalled Ruud van Nistelrooy's record of scoring in 10 consecutive Premier League matches to give Leicester City a 1-0 half-time lead over Newcastle United at St James' Park.
Premier League top scorer Vardy was passed fit to start for the Foxes and attempt to match Van Nistelrooy's feat, and he had the first sniff of a chance when his shot was blocked inside the penalty area in the opening minutes.
Both sides then had a sight of goal inside 30 seconds of one another when Moussa Sissoko saw his effort blocked before a quick Leicester counter-attack ended in Riyad Mahrez finding N'Golo Kante, but the midfielder could not make a telling connection.
The hosts were dealt an early setback when Cheick Tiote had to be replaced after a heavy challenge with Kante, but they had the first clear opportunity to score when the Ivorian's replacement Florian Thauvin found Ayoze Perez. However, the striker could only blaze high and wide under pressure from Kante's challenge.
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In a first half short on quality, it was Newcastle who nearly broke the deadlock again from just their second genuine attack when Georginio Wijnaldum met a corner but was prevented from turning the ball home by a crucial challenge from Robert Huth.
Vardy rolled Chancel Mbemba but the Magpies centre-back got in an important recovery challenge to deny the striker as a dominant Leicester searched for an opener before the break, and after Rob Elliot prevented Mahrez from capping a fine solo run with a goal, the opener finally arrived from a familiar source.
Vardy received the ball on the left side of the penalty area and he cut inside his marker and drilled a fine strike low past Elliot to record his 13th goal of the season and hand the Foxes the lead in first-half stoppage time.
Tom Nightingale
