Tranmere 0-2 Leicester: Jamie Vardy and Wilfred Ndidi fire the Foxes into Carabao Cup third round

If Wilfred Ndidi really does leave Leicester for their bitter rivals Nottingham Forest in the coming days, at least he’s left something sweet to remember him by.

The Nigerian midfielder has been a fine servant for the Foxes, making nearly 250 appearances, but would undoubtedly prefer to play in the Premier League.

Forest would not be high on the acceptable list for any Foxes fan, but Ndidi might have signed off here with a goal and an assist as Leicester easily reached the third round of the Carabao Cup.

It took a while for the 69-place gap between the Championship leader and League Two contender Tranmere to show, but when Ndidi fired in from the post it was game over.

The evergreen Jamie Vardy, 36, who still gets a kick out of a Tuesday night at Birkenhead, headlined Leicester’s second not long after and that was that.

It continued Leicester’s 100 per cent start in both the league and cup, with manager Enzo Maresca, who provided vital impetus to their performance with four half-time substitutions, still not tasting defeat. Or a draw for that matter.

This was, of course, a repeat of the 2000 League Cup Final, the last at the old Wembley, in which two goals from Matt Elliott led Leicester to a 2-1 win over Tranmere, who had sent off Clint Hill.

The visitors’ team roster showed six substitutions from the side, continuing their perfect start to the Championship at Rotherham on Saturday.

But despite all the personnel changes, there was a familiarity in the way Enzo Maresca sent his team out to play. Leicester wanted to weave beautiful patterns with the ball and break down the always packed Tranmere defence.

Leicester’s first chance fell to Harry Winks, who went not far wide as the ball erected invitingly in front of him. Chelsea loanee Cesare Casadei then delivered a dangerous low cross from the right that nearly turned Jordan Turnbull into his own net.

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But Leicester’s possession play was met with fierce opposition from the League Two fourth-tier opponents, whose aim was to avoid conceding early and stay in the game.

At one point, Winks produced an air kick on the edge of the area with so much spin he could run and collect it, but the move backfired, as did many others in the first half for the visitors.

Growing in confidence, Tranmere has even created some openings of his own. Dan Pike, the 21-year-old left back on a short-term contract from Blackburn, sent flying from 35 yards out as Jakub Stolarczyk pushed him away.

Moments later, Josh Hawkes spotted Leicester’s Polish stopper well off his line and attempted the daring lob but failed to take the height.

That was a brief respite for the hosts, who were soon under pressure again when Casadei deflected a powerful header from Marc Albrighton’s corner.

But there was a touch of Leicester frustration at the stalemate after 41 minutes, when centre-back Wout Faes volleyed in from outside the box. It’s no surprise that this one ended up in the stands.

Maresca returned to his bench at half-time and made four changes, with one of the players introducing Yunus Akgun, their new loan from Galatasaray.

After creating the best chances of the first half, Tranmere were soon at it again, with Kieron Morris forcing a low save from Stolarczyk.

But it was one of that quartet of substitutes, Ndidi, who made the breakthrough with a low angular strike that kissed the inside of the post and bounced inside.

The action was fueled by Wanya Marcal batting his man down the left and cutting the ball inside Ricardo Pereira, who tapped it into Ndidi’s path.

Vardy’s goal was a close range header that he simply couldn’t miss after Ndidi was given enough space to get a cross in.

The former England frontman scored another goal, but selflessly tried to give Akgun a first goal. He wasn’t quite on the same wavelength.

But Ndidi had already done the damage.