Interim manager Craig Shakespeare sensed things would be different for Leicester City before a ball was kicked in their 3-1 Premier League win over Liverpool.

Four days on from Claudio Ranieri’s sacking, Jamie Vardy hit a brace either side of Danny Drinkwater’s brilliant long-range strike to lift the ailing champions out of the relegation zone.

Craig Shakespeare

It was a performance in keeping with Leicester’s astonishing title triumph last season – a story that won Ranieri the eternal gratitude of Leicester fans and admiration from around the football world.

As such, reports Leicester’s senior players had a role in his downfall last week did little for their popularity and long-time Foxes number two Shakespeare recognised a desire to right the wrongs of a dismal campaign to date during the warm-up at the King Power Stadium.

“They’ve had to take a lot of criticism over the last few days,” he told Sky Sports.

“I could see in their eyes when they came in they were up for the fight, that they had that fire in their belly.

“In the warm-up you could see they were at it. There was an intensity about them in that. “I thought we were excellent and set the tone during the first 10 or 15 minutes.