Leicester earn first Premier League win, drop Forest into last place

LEICESTER, England: Getting 22 new signings to gel is proving to be a mightily difficult task for Nottingham Forest manager Steve Cooper.

A 4-0 loss at previously winless Leicester dropped Forest into last place in the English Premier League on Monday, leaving Cooper at risk of becoming the latest top-flight manager to lose his job.

In front of the club’s Thai owner, Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha, who flew in for the match, Leicester earned some respite with a dominant display that ended a six-match losing run.

James Maddison scored two — one being a curling free kick in off the far post — while Harvey Barnes and substitute Patson Daka, with a deft flick from Maddison’s cross, added the others at a rocking King Power Stadium.

The pressure, for now, is off Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers, who looked and sounded like someone who could no longer get the best out of his squad following a 6-2 loss at Tottenham before the international break.

“It was a season-changing game,” Rodgers said, “and to get the performance we did, hopefully we can push on.

“I felt we had a horrendous summer — that is the reality — and it continued into the season. We just didn’t play to the levels ... but we’ve been able to reset that.”

Now, Forest are the league’s crisis club and Cooper is the manager battling to survive.

“I completely understand the situation and the question and respect it, 100 percent,” Cooper said, when asked if his future was in doubt. “But my concern is we have lost another game for this club, not my own situation, because I care more about the club more than my personal circumstances.

“I refuse to criticize the players as a group as it is a fresh challenge.”

After securing a return to the league after a 23-year