Maddison plays starring role as Leicester beat Fulham

Win puts Leicester two points behind second-placed Manchester United

Leicester City's Kelechi Iheanacho celebrates scoring their first goal with James Maddison. Reuters

James Maddison kept up his strong recent form by setting up Leicester’s goals in a 2-0 win Wednesday at Fulham in the Premier League, maintaining the team’s push for Champions League qualification.

Kelechi Iheanacho, a back-up striker filling in for the injured Jamie Vardy, headed in a cross from Maddison to give Everton a 17th-minute lead with his first goal of the season.

Then, just before half-time, Maddison played in James Justin and the left back rounded the goalkeeper before tapping into an empty net.

Maddison has either scored or set up a goal in six of his past eight games in a return to form that could earn him a recall to the next England squad, before the European Championship in June and July.

In the absence of Vardy, Leicester had earned only one point from matches against Everton and Leeds, but bounced back at Craven Cottage to extend third-to-last Fulham’s winless run in all competitions to almost two months.

Fulham’s last win was against Leicester on November 30. Since then Scott Parker’s side has lost four and drawn six of its 10 league games to leave it in the relegation zone,

The result helped Leicester stay five points behind leader Manchester City, which also won 2-0 on Wednesday at Burnley.