Leicester City have fallen to a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Everton in their Boxing Day clash at the King Power Stadium this afternoon.

Second-half goals from Kevin Mirallas and Romelu Lukaku saw the Toffees respond to their last-gasp Merseyside derby defeat by returning to winning ways, lifting them up to seventh in the Premier League table.

The depleted hosts were without suspended trio Jamie Vardy, Robert Huth and Christian Fuchs, while both Riyad Mahrez and Danny Drinkwater were missing from Claudio Ranieri's starting XI.

Despite missing so many players who were integral to their title win last season, it was Leicester who came closest in the first half when Daniel Amartey fired a long-range strike narrowly past the post after 15 minutes.

It proved to be a rare sight of goal in the first half between two out-of-form teams, but it took just six minutes for the opener to arrive in the second half when Mirallas latched on to a ball up the middle before breaking into the box and sliding a composed finish past Kasper Schmeichel.

Leicester, who spent Christmas a full 21 points worse off than at the same stage last season, suddenly found themselves facing just a second home league defeat of 2016, but Leonardo Ulloa came close to restoring parity when his header needed Joel Robles to be a full stretch to keep it out.

Everton, who had accrued just one point from their last six away league games before today, came close to giving themselves a cushion with a second goal in the 83rd minute when Idrissa Gueye found space inside the box, but he couldn't keep his effort down.

The visitors did finally seal the win in stoppage time, however, as Lukaku shrugged off the challenge of Wes Morgan before ducking past Marcin Wasilewski and burying his finish into the bottom corner.

The victory is Everton's first away to Leicester since 1997 and lifts them up two places to seventh, while Leicester drop down to 16th and remain only three points clear of the relegation zone.