Leicester City, leading the Championship, gradually wore down the bottom-placed Rotherham United to establish a six-point lead at Christmas.
Taking advantage of Ipswich’s 4-0 defeat at Leeds earlier in the day, Championship leaders Leicester City extended their lead and maintained a comfortable 13-point margin in the automatic promotion race.
Despite facing a resilient Rotherham side in the first half, Leicester broke the deadlock in the 60th minute as Patson Daka scored after Viktor Johansson saved Wesley Faes’ initial attempt.
Daka later secured his second goal from the penalty spot after being fouled by Johansson, and Cesare Casadei added a third with a header from Ricardo Pereira’s cross.
This marked Leicester’s fifth consecutive win and their 19th victory in 23 league matches this season, emphasizing their dominance at the halfway point of the Championship season.
On the other hand, Rotherham, under new boss Leam Richardson, suffered a third consecutive league defeat, extending their winless streak on the road to 26 matches in all competitions since November 8 of the previous year.
The defeat leaves them nine points away from safety, despite signs of improvement in their performance under Richardson, especially in blunting Leicester’s attack during the first half.
Johansson made crucial saves from Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Jannik Vestergaard’s header, while Hakeem Odoffin’s excellent defending thwarted Ricardo Pereira’s goal attempt from Mavididi’s cut-back as the Foxes intensified their efforts.
The frustration continued in the second half as Johansson once again denied Dewsbury-Hall’s strike, and Fatawu Issahaku’s shot was cleared off the goal line by Sean Morrison. However, patience and persistence paid off with two goals in five minutes from Daka, marking his first league brace for Leicester. Cesare Casadei then added another, his first since his debut goal in August, underscoring the hosts’ dominance.
In contrast, Rotherham struggled with just two attempts on goal, both off target, in comparison to Leicester’s 24. The Millers have managed only six goals in 12 away matches this season.
Leicester City head coach Enzo Maresca told BBC Radio Leicester:
“We knew it would be a difficult game, but we were patient to wait for more chances, keep the balance, don’t lose any transitions and in the end we did the most difficult thing in this kind of game and found a goal.
“We knew it would be difficult to continue with the same energy for them without the ball. We were happy even with the first half.
“In the first half we created three clear chances and it’s difficult to have a big amount of chances in this kind of game. You need to be patient.
“It’s six points from Ipswich and more points from Southampton and Leeds, but in this moment we are just in the first half of the season. It’s important to have the amount of points we have and we need to continue a little bit more.”
Rotherham United boss Leam Richardson told BBC Radio Sheffield:
“For an hour, 65 minutes, I thought we were very good value for the performance, hoping to take it into the latter stages and hoping they’d throw a couple of bodies forward, possibly counter on them, but you have to respect Leicester.
“They’re full of quality and they’re up there for a reason. We’re in a really challenging division and we’re stretched for bodies at the minute, so fingers crossed we can get reinforcements sooner rather than later.
“But on today’s assessment I thought the lads dug deep and gave a good account of themselves.
“The disappointing thing is the individual goals and the individual errors that we can avoid but that’s habits, and it’s my job to make them stronger going forward.”