Blackburn Rovers' defensive worries grew as they suffered a third-successive Championship defeat, losing 4-1 to Leicester City.

Jon Dahl Tomasson's side now have the joint-worst defensive record in the league after leaking four more goals. Wout Faes headed Leicester into an early lead, meeting a wide delivery after only four minutes to make it 1-0.

Having made a similarly poor start at Ipswich Town eight days ago, Rovers did respond. Sam Szmodics pounced on a defensive error to fire in his sixth of the season and restore parity before the 10-minute mark.

That didn't last long though and as the game settled into a pattern, Leicester's quality shone. Jamie Vardy made it 2-1 after getting away from Hayden Carter and fired into the roof of the net.

The win was then put beyond doubt from the penalty spot by Kelechi Inheancho in the second half before Keinan Dewsbury-Hall added gloss to the scoreline with a fourth.

Rovers had pushed for an equaliser at 2-1 and came closest through Lewis Travis but he was kept out by Mads Hermansen. That proved to be the decisive moment in the game with defensive lapses against proving costly.

With Harry Leonard out, Tomasson resisted the urge to throw Semir Telalovic in for his first Championship start. Instead, Dilan Markanday was rewarded for his fine display against Cardiff.

That led to a reshuffle with Rovers going for a fluent attacking set-up. Szmodics dropped in as a false nine with Andrew Moran in an attacking number eight role, flanked by Markanday and Arnor Sigurdsson, starting his third game in eight days.

Having conceded nine goals in their last three matches, Rovers' hopes of a clean sheet were dashed after only three minutes. Leicester worked a corner short and Faes headed in at the back post, meeting Abdul Fatawu's delivery. Another slow start with Rovers conceding early, as they did at Ipswich.

The similarities kept on coming though as they found themselves level before the clock struck 10. The Foxes had already been warned but continued to try and play from the back and were punished.

Travis did excellently to win it on the edge and shuffled the ball to Szmodics who shifted it inside and fired in his sixth of the season. The forward has now surpassed last season's goal tally with only nine league matches played.

After such a bright start, the match began to settle down. Leicester were intent on dominating the ball and Rovers sat in a man-to-man marking shape. Szmodics dropped onto Harry Winks, the deepest midfielder, leaving Vestergaard with possession.

Leicester wanted to bait the press and invited Rovers on to them. Tomasson's game plan was to resist unless the ball was moving backwards and inside the Foxes' final third.

That passive approach worked in the opening 20 minutes until Leicester began to wake up. They started moving the ball quicker and carving through. Keinan Dewsbury-Hall let Rovers off as he fired wide from close range after an impressive passing move whilst Vardy hit the bar with a fabulous volleyed effort.

The second goal did follow though just before the half-hour mark. The danger came from the Leicester right, picking out Vardy, who escaped the attention of Hayden Carter and fired into the roof of the net.

Rovers struggled to impose themselves until the half-time whistle. The tactical set-up made sense from Tomasson but they perhaps lacked the variety of personnel to implement it. In Szmodics, Sigurdsson and Moran they had three players who all offered very similar threats to the Leicester defence.

Rovers came out in the second half and tried to push the initiative. Moran again looked bright with his driving runs from central but despite the effort, they struggled to make many inroads.

It was the Foxes that came closest to adding more goals to the scoreline. Vardy raced through and beat Aynsley Pears to the ball. He squared for Wilfried Ndidi but a brilliant last-ditch block from Harry Pickering prevented him from finishing the chance.

Rovers came back again as they tried to find the leveller. Their interplay was typically neat and intricate on the edge of the box but Leicester continued to flood the box and limit space. When they did work an opening, it was a half-chance, with Szmodics unable to adjust his body and he blazed over a deflected cutback.

A lengthy stoppage after an injury to Pears halted Rovers' momentum and gave a first taste of Championship football to Leopold Walhsted. Rovers then created their biggest chance of the half.

Travis seized on the lose ball from 10 yards but his effort was brilliantly saved by Hermansen and the rebound from Szmodics was foiled. It proved to decisive moment in the game.

With less than 10 minutes of normal time remaining, Leicester put the result beyond doubt. Carter was judged to have brought down Vestergaard in the box and substitute Inheanacho was on hand to make it 3-1. Game set and match.

But that wasn't the end of the scoring. With Ewood Park already emptying out, Dewsbury-Hall accelerated the process by adding a fourth, dinking the ball over Walhstedt's outstretched arm to complete the win.

It's a third successive Championship defeat for Rovers and another three goals shipped. Only Southampton (20) have conceded the number of goals as Rovers this season and on the other hand, they don't have the quality to out-fire teams.

Next up are two away trips to Coventry City and Queens Park Rangers. Whilst there is frustration at the last three losses, the anger will ramp up if they continue to ship goals in the same manner against weaker opposition.