Jamie’s late to the party

A JAMIE VARDY party is always worth waiting for and after 16 club games without a goal, fun was back on the agenda with his first-ever Leicester City hat-trick.

Not only did a brilliant striker’s treble end his drought, it made Pep Guardiola and Manchester City look ridiculous. At £47.5million, John Stones will have a bad hangover this morning and not one he enjoyed getting.

From the opening whistle, 29-year-old Vardy was a man possessed, wild-eyed and jet-heeled as usual but with a clear sense of control and purpose.

The shambolic visitors simply couldn’t cope with the energy, intensity and, yes, intelligence.

After three minutes, he dashed through the gap between Stones and Aleksandr Kolarov to end his poor run and proudly puffed out his chest as if to say “Told you so”.

Twenty minutes in, he reacted quickest to a flick from Riyad Mahrez. As keeper Claudio Bravo froze, Vardy rounded him and slotted home in one smooth movement.

Crisis, what Leicester crisis? And Vardy didn’t let up. When another another Stones backpass to Bravo put his team in trouble after 78 minutes, Vardy nipped in and rolled the ball over the line via the inside of the post from the acutest of angles. It was exactly what Vardy, Leicester and their manager Claudio Ranieri needed.

A year ago, he had just set a Premier League record for scoring in 11 consecutive league games and his strike against Chelsea on December 12 put his team top and cost Jose Mourinho a job.

Vardy ended the campaign as a Premier League champion, Footballer of The Year and courted by Arsenal.

But this season had been a different story until last night. It’s time to start the party.