Leicester boss Enzo Maresca makes squad admission as Jamie Vardy and Kelechi Iheanacho down Stoke

The Italian coach made six changes against Stoke, in what was his side’s third game in six days.

The move paid off as Leicester recorded their sixth successive Championship win that kept them top of the table.

Kelechi Iheanacho opened the scoring after 24 minutes before Jamie Vardy came off the bench to wrap up a 2-0 win.

Vardy had started on Wednesday against Preston, with Iheanacho coming off the bench to score.

“That’s why we try to switch them around,” said Maresca. “The other night against Preston, Kele was probably not happy to be on the bench.

“But he came on and was fantastic.

“Here, Jamie was not happy to be on the bench. But he came on and scored, and was happy.

“To be competitive, you need two players for each position so they can compete between them. In the end, we can choose one of them.

“Here we left out Wout Faes, Stephy Mavididi, Wilfred Ndidi, James Justin and Jamie.

“But they cannot think to play 46 games. It’s impossible.

“At the moment, no human being can play every game at the same level.

“Maybe next time, I’ll make six changes, we’ll lose and I’ll be wrong. But we have to make those decisions.”

Maresca accepted that Stoke had been tough to break down, as have a number of visitors to the King Power Stadium.

“We need to improve a lot because we are going to face these kinds of games many times. But we are going in the right direction,” he added.