Vardy strike marks Puel milestone in style

IF reaching 50 league games in charge of Leicester feels an achievement for Claude Puel, the greater feat is the manner in which the misunderstood Frenchman brought up the milestone.

After being under pressure, Puel has recorded wins over Chelsea, Manchester City and Everton in a festive period marred only by the unexpected home loss to Cardiff. In the process, he has taken his side to seventh place. It is the best 2016’s champions can realistically hope for. It should be enough to extend his loveless affair with Leicester.

“There is speculation, I don’t know why,” said Puel. “I cannot manage the rumours. I am just a person who serves the club and I would like to continue this way.”

He has been helped by his best finisher. While Jamie Vardy has admitted he is not ideally suited to Puel’s style of football, he has helped to shore up the manager’s position by scoring winners in successive away matches at Stamford Bridge and Goodison Park.

Everton were awful and manager Marco Silva said: “It was a poor performance from the first minute. After (conceding), we didn’t play with enough quality.”

The substitute Cenk Tosun mustered Everton’s only two shots on target and neither required an outstanding save from Kasper Schmeichel.

While Silva’s side broke into the top six in November, they could begin their FA Cup campaign in the bottom half of the league after a run of just one win and no clean sheets in eight games. Another costly defensive error proved Everton’s undoing.