Patson Daka scored his third and fourth goals in his fourth consecutive start of the season in the English Championship on Saturday.
The Zambian striker, who was making his fifth league appearance, opened the scoring for Leicester City with a close-range tap-in before converting a penalty five minutes later to make it two-nil against Rotherham at the Kingpower Stadium.
Italian youngster Cesare Casadei added the icing on the cake to seal an emphatic 3-0 win for the Foxes, who now top the league with 58 points in 23 games.
Speaking shortly after the game, Leicester City manager Enzo Maresca admitted that Daka deserves the playing time.
“He deserves it; he deserves it because he has been three-four months without playing a game, he keeps working hard and he is doing very well,” Maresca said.
“The only thing you can say is to continue to work. Patson did fantastic. He never gave up. He worked hard and waited for the opportunity.
Daka had only played one match in 19 league games at Leicester City before December 9, 2023, making the bench 10 times and missing the squad eight times, with Maresca frantically stating that he preferred Jamie Vardy and Nigerian striker Kelechi Iheanacho to lead his frontline over Daka.
However, on December 9, 2023, following the absences of Iheanacho and Vardy due to illness and injury, respectively, Maresca turned to Daka, who scored and assisted against Plymouth.
Since then, he has made four consecutive starts, scoring four goals.
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Leicester City will, on Boxing Day, face title-chasing Ipswitch, who are just five points behind them in the standings.
