Enzo Maresca told Patson Daka he didn’t expect him to play well so was delighted the out-of-favour striker got himself on the scoresheet in Leicester City’s rampant win over Plymouth.

Making his first start of the season with Jamie Vardy and Kelechi Iheanacho unavailable, Daka scored the second of City’s four goals as Maresca’s side recorded their biggest win of the season. It keeps them on top in the Championship.

Daka has been out of the picture for much of the season, a “straight situation” for which Maresca is “very sorry”, but he was needed on Saturday and stepped up. Having only afforded him 20 minutes of pitch-time over the first few months of the campaign, Maresca told the Zambian to not put pressure on his own performance.

“The situation with Pat has been a bit strange,” Maresca said. “Since day one, he works fantastic and he behaves fantastic. Because I play with one striker and we use Jamie, we use Kele, he didn’t get minutes. But it was not because he trained bad or behaved bad.

“I always said to him that in these three or four months: ‘Pat, I’m very sorry for the situation.’ But it is what it is. He has continued to work in the right way.

“Now we had Kele ill and Jamie with a small problem. It was a chance for him and he took it. I’m very happy, especially for him, because he completely deserved it.

“I told Pat before the game: ‘It doesn’t matter if you play well or bad. I don’t expect from you to play well. I can understand to be out for three or four months. So play free, relax, enjoy, and then we’ll see.’