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Cape Town - A first-half strike from Demarai Gray was the difference at the King Power Stadium as Leicester City beat Burnley 1-0 on Saturday.
Leicester had the perfect start when Gray scored a very scrappy goal in the sixth minute. Riyad Mahrez played a great cross into the box which eventually fell towards Pope who parried away but only as far as Gray, who managed to knee the ball into the back of the net.
Burnley responded well to the goal and Kasper Schmeichel was called into action as a deflected ball from Jeff Hendrick fell to Chris Wood, who controlled it on his chest before firing away an effort which the Leicester keeper managed to gather.
The Clarets then suffered a significant set-back when Robbie Brady had to be stretchered off the field just after the half hour when he collided with Harry Maguire. The Leicester defender stepped in as Brady was about to shoot and both players went down with the latter having to be replaced by Scott Ardfield.
Mahrez had a chance to extend the Foxes lead as he carried the ball forward before having a go; driving a powerful effort towards Pope who managed to clear well as Leicester entered the break a goal to the good.
Leicester started the second half positively and Gray almost looked certain to bag his brace after being played in by Jamie Vardy, but Phil Bardsley got a cross to make a fantastic block to keep Burnley in the game.
Two minutes later, it was Bardsley again to the rescue as he managed to half-block an effort from Wes Morgan before turning around and clearing the ball off the line.
With 20 minutes to go, Wilfried Ndidi squared the ball to Gray in the area and the youngster hit it well and had already started his celebratory run when the ball deflected off the post and back out into open play.
Sean Dyche's’ final throw at the dice was to introduce Sam Vokes for Chris Wood with 15 minutes to play as his team desperately searched for an equaliser.
As the game entered extra time, Johann Berg Gudmundsson whipped in a great cross towards Ashley Barnes who was in on goal, but the replacement couldn’t get the telling touch on it as Burnley lost their just their third game this season to remain seventh.
