Newcastle demolishes hapless Leicester to move into top five

By Canadian Press on April 7, 2025.

LEICESTER, England (AP) — Jacob Murphy scored twice in the first 11 minutes and set Newcastle on its way to a 3-0 win over a hapless Leicester in the Premier League on Monday.

Murphy’s goals were the main talking point, as was the second-half appearance of Jeremy Monga, who at 15 years, 271 days, became the second youngest player to appear in the Premier League.

Monga replaced Bilal El Khannouss for Leicester 16 minutes from time wearing a different, logo-less shirt from his teammates because he is too young to advertise the betting firm that sponsors the home side.

Murphy scored the opener after two minutes when he stole in at the back post to convert a low cross from Tino Livramento. Leicester had six men inside the six-yard box but the ball went past them all and Murphy made no mistake.

The well-travelled winger scored a breathtaking second nine minutes later thanks largely to the audacity of Fabian Schär.

Schär’s attempt from inside his own half bounced back off the crossbar with goalkeeper Mads Hermansen well beaten but Murphy followed up to slam home the rebound with the Leicester defence AWOL.

Former Leicester winger Harvey Barnes scored the third after 33 minutes when he poked home a Joelinton shot that the keeper parried.

It was a damage limitation exercise from then on for Leicester, which became the first league team to lose eight consecutive home matches without scoring. It remained second to last, three points behind Ipswich and five behind Wolves.

Newcastle moved into fifth, equal on points with the team above it, Chelsea.

___

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

The Associated Press