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LEICESTER, England, Nov. 8 (Reuters) – Leicester City led the Premier League with a tense 1-0 win against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday as striker Jamie Vardy scored a penalty and saved another.
Vardy made no mistake with his first 15-minute penalty after Wolves were punished for handball when Dennis Praet’s cross hits the hand of Max Kilman, the 33-year-old England international who sends Rui Patricio in the wrong direction .
He came back six minutes before half-time when Rayan Ait Nouri took down James Justin, but hit his straight kick in the center and into the goalkeeper’s legs.
Marc Albrighton replaces Luke Thomas for Leicester at half-time and almost made an immediate impact, but Youri Tielemans directed his ball into the box just wide, and the Belgian wasted another good chance by shooting over the crossbar.
Wolves swarmed forward in search of an equalizer and goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel pulled out a splendid save to deny a Ruben Neves shot from the edge of the box, diving high to his left to keep the ball out.
“This is what you work on as a goalkeeper, that’s what I’m there for. The whole team defended brilliantly throughout the game – they had a chance or two and that’s it,” Schmeichel told Sky Sports.
Leicester could have doubled the lead in the 82nd minute, but Harvey Barnes fired a deflected shot over the crossbar, and from the resulting corner Christian Fuchs hit a powerful shot that could have upset the keeper had he not hit his teammate. Jonny Evans.
Leicester climbed to the top of the table with 18 points from eight games, one ahead of Tottenham Hotspur and two over Liverpool champions who will play Manchester City on Sunday. (Reported by Philip O’Connor, edited by Ed Osmond)
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