Leicester City 3, Wigan Athletic 0: Latics suffer defeat away to Foxes

Wigan Athletic remain bottom of League One after suffering a 3-0 defeat against Leicester City at the King Power Stadium on Tuesday night.

Gary Caldwell’s side had chances to get back into the game after falling behind in the first half, but goals from Emil Riis and Bobby De Cordova-Reid condemned the Latics to another defeat.

The result leaves Wigan four points adrift of safety, with upcoming home fixtures against Bromley and Mansfield Town taking on added importance as they look to really kickstart their campaign.

Leicester started brightly and came close to opening the scoring in the 14th minute when Riis’ effort deflected off James Carragher and struck the crossbar.

The hosts took the lead three minutes later, however, as a corner caused problems in the Wigan defence and the ball fell to Riis at the back post to tap home.

Wigan almost responded immediately, with Scott Hogan getting through on goal, only for Leicester goalkeeper Alex McCarthy to make an important save.

Dara Costelloe then had another opportunity to level the score after being picked out by a good delivery from Connor Barrett, but his effort went wide.

Caldwell made his first change before the break, bringing on Morgan Fox for Jeremiah Chilokoa-Mullen in the 31st minute.

Wigan continued to look for an equaliser after the interval, with K’Marni Miller shooting wide from a tight angle shortly after the restart.

Leicester had a chance to double their advantage when Riis failed to direct his header on target, before Wigan missed another opportunity at the other end.

Miller delivered a cross which found Barrett in the 66th minute, but the winger’s effort sailed over the crossbar.

Leicester punished the miss almost immediately, with Riis grabbing his second of the evening in the 67th minute to put the hosts in control.

Caldwell responded with a triple substitution, introducing Christian Saydee, Jon Mellish and Akeel Higgins as Wigan searched for a way back into the contest.

The hosts sealed the result in stoppage time after Reggie Walsh was penalised for a foul on Harry Souttar inside the area. De Cordova-Reid converted the resulting penalty to make it 3-0.

Fox came close to scoring a late consolation for Wigan, but McCarthy produced another strong save to preserve Leicester’s clean sheet.

The Latics must now turn their attention to two crucial home games against Bromley and Mansfield as they look to close the gap on the teams above them.

Leicester: Alex McCarthy; Caleb Okoli, Conor Chaplin, Will Smallbone, Harry Souttar, Warren O’Hora, Emil Riis, Louis Page, Kamari Doyle, Luke Thomas, Will Alves. Subs: Wes Burns, Liam Cullen, Bobby De Cordova-Reid, Harry Howell, Franco Ravizzoli, Ilari Kangasniemi, Sammy Braybrooke.

Wigan: Joe Whitworth; Connor Barrett, Jeremiah Chilokoa-Mullen, Finley Burns, Jensen Weir, Reggie Walsh, Dara Costelloe, K’Marni Miller, James Carragher, Scott Hogan, Bradley Burrowes. Subs: Joe Walsh, Morgan Fox, Akeel Higgins, Chris Sze, Jon Mellish, Christian Saydee, Reece Greenhalgh.