Premier League: Steven Gerrard inspires Liverpool to away victory at Leicester

Steven Gerrard made the difference as Liverpool came from behind to beat 10-man Leicester 3-1 on Tuesday night.

Gerrard was rested at the weekend amidst reports suggesting a rift with manager Brendan Rodgers, but the Reds skipper inspired his side to victory on his return.

Leicester took an early lead when Leonardo Ulloa’s close-range shot bounced back off the post and deflected in via Simon Mignolet, but Liverpool quickly equalised through Adam Lallana.

Gerrard slotted his team in front before Wes Morgan was shown a straight red card for bringing down Rickie Lambert as the last man, and then substitute Jordan Henderson wrapped up the points late on.

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Rodgers' controversial decision to rest Gerrard for the scrappy home win over Stoke on Saturday was vindicated as the former England captain inspired his team to only their third away league win of the season.

Liverpool needed his injection of energy after they fell behind because of sloppy defending, with Mignolet almost gifting Esteban Cambiasso an open goal before sending the ball into his own net from Ulloa's shot.

Lallana found the near corner from Lambert's knockdown in a familiar scene from their days together at Southampton, but Leicester were still very much in the game by the break.

Gerrard began to pull the strings in the second half however, and found Raheem Sterling in a good position on the left; the winger's shot half-cleared by Morgan before dropping into Gerrard's stride to score.

Gerrard was then involved in the move that led to Morgan's dismissal, with Lambert getting the better of the defender and clean through had he not been pulled down by his shirt by the Leicester captain.

The Reds were in firm control from then on and Henderson found an empty net when Sterling cut the ball back from the byline on 83 minutes.

It means a seventh defeat in nine Premier League games leaves Leicester bottom in the table.

SOCCER SPECIAL ANALYSIS - CHARLIE NICHOLAS

Leicester were in the game for a long period but Wes Morgan had a crazy red card. He tried to be clever with the pass back, he could still have got there but he got desperate. 

Defensively Leicester are really struggling. Going forward they’ve got good energy, a good appetite for it. They had decent quality, too, and got in front tonight. But there was a big comeback from Liverpool. 

Steven Gerrard wasn’t fantastic but he’s still got a major part to play. His critics can sit back and say it’s over a period of time, but he scored the second goal to put them in front and overall his display was very solid indeed. 

PLAYER RATINGS

Leicester: Schmeichel (6); De Laet (6), Morgan (6), Wasilewski (6), Konchesky (6); Schlupp (6), Cambiasso (7), James (7), Mahrez (6); Vardy (7), Ulloa (6)

Subs used: Albrighton (6)

Liverpool: Mignolet; Johnson (6), Skrtel (6), Toure (6), Manquillo (5); Gerrard (8), Lucas (6), Henderson (7); Sterling (6), Lambert (6), Lallana (7)

Subs used: Allen (5), Moreno (5), Lovren (5)

Man of the match: Steven Gerrard