Rodgers said: "He is a wonderful striker and scored two very good goals. He is one of the best in this division if you get up the pitch and slide him in. He doesn't need many chances to score.

"He's a top-class striker. He is through on goal for his 100 goals and he squares it (for Youri Tielemans). It tells you what a team player he is.

"I'm very happy he is here. He's tactically very good and starts off the press well."

Rodgers earned his first win as Leicester manager in his first home game in charge after Tielemans opened the scoring after 21 minutes.

Floyd Ayite's goal six minutes after the break pulled the Cottagers level until Vardy's late show.

Fulham are 13 points from safety after a sixth straight defeat and they face Liverpool and Manchester City in their next two games.

"In the second half, we improved a lot, got an equaliser and at that point felt in control of the game, and were a threat," said caretaker boss Scott Parker.

"In this division, if you make big mistakes, the ball normally ends up in the back of your net and that's what happened today.

"We changed things around a little bit, tried to gain some control, tried to get some bodies inside the pitch and built from there, which was very pleasing. The mistakes changed the game and it was difficult from there.

"We've worked all week on the way we play and the style of football we want to play.

"I felt in the first half we were a bit naive in the way we played against a side under a new manager and a front four who were very aggressive in their pressing. It probably gave them a lift and we never really gave ourselves a foundation to build on."

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