BURNLEY suffered a second away defeat of the season at the King Power Stadium and saw their afternoon go from bad to worse with Robbie Brady stretchered off.

Demarai Gray put the hosts ahead early on before Brady was carried off after injuring his left knee.

The Clarets had responded well after going behind but they struggled to sustain that in the second half and had to soak up plenty of pressure as the game wore on.

Nick Pope has barely put a foot wrong for the Clarets since replacing Tom Heaton but he won’t remember his role in Leicester’s early goal with any fondness.

Riyad Mahrez’s in-swinging cross may have been creeping in the back post, but a diving Pope could only palm it out straight against Gray who bundled the ball home from inside the six-yard box, colliding the post in the process.

Former Foxes man Chris Wood was presented with a chance to level the scores shortly after, with Johann Berg Gudmundsson’s cross deflecting into his path six-yards out, but he couldn’t bring the ball under control and Kasper Schmeichel was out quickly to smother the ball.

Burnley had responded well to going behind and two Brady corners in quick succession caused problems, with James Tarkowski heading one wide and Ben Mee sending the other over, before Gudmundsson’s 15-yard volley was saved by Schmeichel.

Brady had been a creative force for the Clarets in the opening quarter, so it was a major blow when he was stretchered off after half an hour. The Irish winger had the ball in a shooting position on the edge of the area but took too many touches before lunging at the ball as Harry Maguire cleared. It was Brady who came off worse, leaving the field with his left knee and lower leg in a brace.

Leicester hadn’t really troubled the Clarets since the goal and Pope was called into action for only the second time just before the break, punching a Mahrez shot clear after the Algerian had let fly from 20 yards following a driving run forward.

It was certainly a brighter Leicester that returned for the second half, with Mahrez at the centre of most of it.

His teasing cross set up Jamie Vardy for a volley, and although he failed to make good contact he did tee up Wes Morgan, who missed his kick and Phil Bardsley was back to clear the danger on the line.

The Clarets best chance of the afternoon so far arrived on the hour mark. Jeff Hendrick threaded a fine ball through to Gudmundsson, who beat Morgan for pace but was denied by the legs of Schmeichel.

It was a rare counter for Burnley, who were finding themselves under pressure, and Pope had to turn a Marc Albrighton shot round the post after the winger had cut inside Bardsley.

Pope was beaten on 71 minutes but the post came to Burnley’s rescue, with Gray sweeping a low effort against the woodwork from Wilfred Ndidi’s cross.

Burnley were struggling to find any momentum and Pope was called on to keep them in the game with 10 minutes to go, keeping Vardy’s near-post flick from a Ben Chilwell cross out with his knee.

Sam Vokes and Ashley Barnes had come off the bench to try and inject some life into the Clarets and the changes nearly worked.

With five minutes to go Vokes headed a Gudmundsson corner wide before in injury-time the Iceland winger sent in a brilliant cross for Barnes, but he failed to make contact and the ball hit Harry Maguire and flew straight at a grateful Schmeichel.

There was time for one final chance, with Barnes’ low shot from the edge of the area saved by Schmeichel at his near post.