Zan Vipotnik effort enough as Swansea edge struggling Leicester

Zan Vipotnik’s 21st league goal of the season inspired Swansea to a 1-0 Championship win against struggling Leicester at the King Power Stadium as the Foxes saw their relegation fears worsen.

The game’s only goal came after 53 minutes as Vipotnik blasted a shot into the net via the crossbar from close range after Eom Ji-Sung sprinted from his own box to the edge of the Leicester penalty area in a blistering counter attack.

The game burst into life just before the half-hour mark when Harry Winks found Patson Daka in the box and the striker flicked the ball into the path of Ricardo Pereira, who lashed a shot against the post from the right-hand side of the penalty area.

Swans goalkeeper Lawrence Vigouroux then pushed Daka’s looping header to safety after the striker flicked on Divine Mukasa’s corner from the right at the near post.

Daka continued to cause Swansea problems when he controlled Mukasa’s lofted ball down the left channel and fired a powerful volley towards goal, which Vigouroux parried into the ground.

The home side spurned another chance shortly before the break when Abdul Fatawu pounced on Sam Parker’s stray ball only to curl a shot inches past the post from 20 yards out.

Leicester came agonisingly close to scoring the opening goal on the stroke of half-time when Jamaal Lascelles guided Mukasa’s corner into the six-yard box and Oliver Skipp saw his shot cleared off the line by Vipotnik.

The Swans improved after the break as Vipotnik cut the ball back from the right into the path of Melker Widell, who could only fire over the crossbar when left unmarked, 15 yards from goal.

However, the visitors broke the deadlock when Eom intercepted Mukasa’s short free-kick inside his own box and sprinted the length of the pitch before releasing Vipotnik, who produced a clinical finish from eight yards out via the underside of the crossbar.

The goal sparked a chorus of boos from the home fans as the second-tier top scorer netter his 21st goal of the campaign to move further clear in the race for the golden boot.

Leicester struggled to recover from the setback as chants of “sack the board” rang around the ground in the closing minutes before loud boos greeted the home side’s performance at full-time.

The visitors slipped to second bottom as a result, find themselves four points from safety with four games left and are now winless in their last five matches.

Victory for Swansea brought an end to the Welsh side’s four-game winless run, with the Swans only below the top half of the table on goal difference.