Newcastle United recovered from two consecutive defeats to beat Leicester City 1-0 with an Ayoze Perez header on Friday and moved 10 points clear of the Premier League relegation zone.

The Spaniard glanced the ball into the top right corner of the net from Matt Ritchie's cross to put Newcastle ahead after 32 minutes despite Leicester having dominated possession.

Salomon Rondon almost put the visitors ahead before that when he hit the bar with a powerful free-kick from 30 metres.

Leicester, looking to secure a European spot next season under new coach Brendan Rodgers, had striker Jamie Vardy back.

Vardy had scored six goals in the club's five matches under Rodgers, who joined from Celtic, but apart from an early chance that was saved he had little impact on the game.

Leicester remain seventh on 47 points, while Newcastle moved up to 13th on 38 with their first away win since December.