Andy Carroll provided a 'different type of threat' for Newcastle but it wasn't enough to prevent Leicester capping a 'terrific away performance' by coming away with all three points at St James' Park.
Certainly, that was the verdict of Foxes midfielder James Maddison, whose opening goal set his side up for a vital victory in their Premier League title hilt.
Belgium international midfielder Youri Tielemans doubled Leicester's lead with a fine strike from outside the area before Carroll's smart finish gave the Magpies some hope in the closing stages.
It was the 31-year-old's first Newcastle goal in over 10 years and while it proved to no avail, his physicality and aerial prowess posed Leicester a problem they hadn't previously faced in the game.
Indeed, Foxes boss Brendan Rodgers felt the match became a 'war' following Carroll's arrival and Maddison praised his team-mates for managing to weather the storm and see out a vital victory.
"[It was a] terrific away performance,” Maddison told LCFC TV.
“[It was] one where we had to show a bit of everything, to be honest – a bit of patience because I don’t think the first half was particularly brilliant.
“It probably wasn’t the best game for a neutral in the first half, I’d say, but we had to show patience, a bit of quality when the chances came, and then resilience at the end, which we’ve shown this season.
“I think our record away from home is brilliant, and it was no different. You come up against teams like Newcastle and we want to be winning those games.
"We’re going into the game as a big team and a team that knows that we should win, but also, at the same time, you can’t have that complacency, because that’s when you start to get bad results.
“I think we showed at the end there, they get the goal bringing on big Andy Carroll, who’s always a different type of threat.
“I thought we dealt with it well, especially in the closing stages, like JJ (James Justin) winning a foul in the corner, Jonny [Evans] sweeping up in the left channel – just little things and little bits of experience that maybe last year we might not have shown, especially New Year’s Day onwards, when we kind of tailed off a little bit. A convincing performance.”
