Vardy wonder strike puts another dent in Spurs’ title assault
LEICESTER continue to impress under Claude Puel and the Foxes moved into the top 10 in the Premier League with a 2-1 home win against Tottenham.
The usual suspects were on the scoresheet for both sides.
Jamie Vardy gave Leicester an early lead which Riyad Mahrez extended just before half-time.
Harry Kane, who had a loan spell at Leicester almost five years ago when the Foxes were in the Championship, pulled a goal back late on.
It was his 11th in his last 10 matches against his old club.
Leicester started on the front foot and put Tottenham under some early pressure.
Wilfred Ndidi saw a low strike easily smothered by Hugo Lloris before Leicester captain Wes Morgan had a header cleared from just in front of the goalline by Danny Rose.
But the Foxes opened the scoring in the 13th minute — Marc Albrighton attempted to get Vardy through on goal and his clipped pass into the area from the left was weighted to perfection and the England striker brilliantly beat Lloris with a controlled first-time volley.
Tottenham were almost level within five minutes as Kane set up Moussa Sissoko, who only had Kasper Schmeichel to beat, but the Leicester goalkeeper did well to block his shot with his legs.
Chances like this proved costly as Mahrez doubled the lead just before half-time.
The former PFA Player of the Year has been below par this season, and he had been quiet again in this match before he collected
the ball out on the right, drifted towards the area and curled a lovely left-foot shot beyond Lloris and into the far top corner of the net.
Shinji Okazaki sent a header over the crossbar early after the break but Spurs enjoyed a lot of possession in the second half.
Christian Eriksen should have pulled a goal back but uncharacteristically skewed his shot well wide from just six yards out.
It proved to be his last act and he was replaced in the 77 th minute by Erik Lamela, who was making his first appearance in 13 months following two hip operations.
Lamela made an immediate impact, sliding a ball down the right side of the area for Kane who finished emphatically with a fiercely-struck shot.
Fellow substitute Fernando Llorente should have equalised three minutes later but somehow poked Serge Aurier’s driven cross over the crossbar.