Updated February 28, 2017 10:43:54

Photo: Danny Drinkwater (C) scored a brilliant long-range goal to put Leicester on the way to a vital win over Liverpool. (AP: Rui Vieira)

Crisis-hit Leicester City has ended a shocking week by beating Liverpool 3-1 in the club's first game without sacked manager Claudio Ranieri.

Striker Jamie Vardy hit top form with a double for Leicester, which had been firmly in the spotlight ever since the club's owners had sacked Ranieri on his return from Leicester's 2-1 Champions League loss to Sevilla last week.

Leicester's sacking of club hero Claudio Ranieri reminds us all that top-tier football is a ruthless business.

Results on the weekend left Leicester languishing in the bottom three, right in the relegation zone, so the pressure was well and truly on when the team faced Liverpool.

The Foxes were being led by caretaker manager Craig Shakespeare, who has no previous Premier League managerial experience.

The fans gave a warm welcome to the team at Leicester's home ground, although there were some banners in the crowd saying thank you to the former manager.

From the very start, the Foxes came out with an intensity that has been sorely lacking in the season so far — before the Liverpool game, Leicester had failed to score a single goal in the Premier League in 2017.

Photo: Leicester fans showed their thanks for Premier League title-winning manager Claudio Ranieri. (AP / PA: Nick Potts)

With Jurgen Klopp's Reds not making an impression, Leicester got the crowd going with Vardy opening the scoring in the 28th minute and adding another on the hour.

Danny Drinkwater also netted with a superb long-range strike. Phillippe Coutinho slotted home for Liverpool with just over 20 minutes left, but it proved to be merely a consolation goal for the Reds.

The win helped propel Leicester out of the relegation places and up to 15th, two points above the drop zone with 12 games remaining.

Vardy scored 24 league goals last season but the England international's goals in either half were just his sixth and seventh of this campaign.

Ranieri was dismissed nine months after masterminding one of the biggest sporting shocks of all time by leading the 5,000-1 outsider to league glory.

But Leicester has failed to replicate that form. Before facing Liverpool, it had won just five league games for the year.

Five consecutive league defeats sent it spiralling down the standings.

ABC/AP

Topics: sport, soccer, english-premier, england

First posted February 28, 2017 09:23:30