Foxes are without the departed Jamie Vardy
Eagles earned a late win over the Owls
Leicester dropped to the Championship post their relegation from PL
Marti Cifuentes celebrated victory on his managerial bow as Leicester City fought back to earn a 2-1 win over crisis-club Sheffield Wednesday, who saw captain Barry Bannan sent off.
The cash-strapped Owls protested against owner Dejphon Chansiri after an off-season of turmoil that saw the club placed under three separate embargoes, players and staff paid late, first-team regulars sold for cut-price deals or leave on a free, and manager Danny Rohl depart to be replaced by assistant Henrik Pedersen.
Away supporters opted to take their seats for the game late and were applauded into the King Power Stadium by home fans, who are also waiting to hear if their club will be punished for an alleged breach of financial rules.
Despite their off-field troubles, Nathaniel Chalobah had already hit the post by the time he side-footed Yann Valery's cut-back home via a huge deflection off Oliver Skipp to put Wednesday ahead.
Leicester, relegated from the Premier League last season, went closest through Bilal El Khannouss and Yannik Vestergaard in a lacklustre first-half performance, but the latter rifled into the roof of the goal after 54 minutes to restore parity.
Wednesday's depleted squad had already been hit by injuries to Chalobah and Valery and the situation worsened when Bannan, booked for dissent only four minutes earlier, was shown a second yellow after catching Harry Winks on the follow-through.
Leicester's numerical advantage told as substitute Wout Faes headed home unmarked from an 87th-minute El Khannouss corner to get Leicester up and running, and break the resolve of the plucky visitors.
Data Debrief: Cunning Foxes off to another solid start
Victory here means Leicester are now unbeaten across their last seven opening games of a league campaign (W4, D3), last losing such a game to Manchester United at Old Trafford to start the 2018-19 season.
Moreover, it is now four matches without defeat against the Owls in their last four league games against them (W3, D1), last enjoying a longer undefeated run against Wednesday between August 1967 and October 1981 (six games).
Wednesday had previously avoided defeat in 13 games when scoring the first goal in the Championship, the last time they did so coming in a 2-1 loss to Luton Town on 21 September 2024.
Pierce Charles was a busy man in the Wednesday goal, making 11 saves in total. The last time a goalkeeper made at least 10 saves in a match in the Championship was Paul Nardi for Queens Park Rangers against Blackburn Rovers in September last year.
