Victory at Leicester means Valerien Ismael’s Blackburn side have won successive matches for the first time this season, having beaten another of the recently relegated Premier League clubs in Southampton a week earlier.
This triumph moves Rovers up to 19th in the table and to within four points of faltering Leicester.
A dismal run of just one win from eight games, which now included back-to-back losses leading up to Rovers’ visit, made this nostalgic clash of former Premier League champions a vitally important one for a Foxes side that set out this season to make an immediate return to the top flight.
With Leicester having now collected just eight points from the 27 on offer since the start of September, the growing disquiet among Foxes supporters become somewhat deafening in this game as the fanbase questioned if boss Cifuentes is the right man for the job.
Chants of “Marti, Marti sort it out” could be heard when the Foxes found themselves a goal down in the first half after a frustrating start from the hosts.
And by the end of the match, the players themselves were jeered with “you’re not fit to wear the shirt”.
Mavididi, making his first start since September after returning from a hamstring injury, had an early close-range effort deflected over before quickly going on to find the back of the net.
But it was a finish that seemingly cost Leicester the lead, as the winger was flagged for offside when he directed an already goalbound header from Vestergaard beyond Balazs Toth when the Blackburn goalkeeper looked beaten.