Vardy on rampage as Foxes hold Devils
LEICESTER City striker Jamie Vardy made history last night by scoring for the 11th English Premier League match running in his side’s 1-1 draw at home to Manchester United.
The England forward struck in the 24th minute, running onto Christian Fuchs’s pass and arrowing a shot past goalkeeper David de Gea to break a record he had previously shared with former United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy.
Van Nistelrooy, whose record had stood since 2003, was quick to congratulate Vardy, writing on his Twitter account: “Well done @vardy7! You’re number
Well done @vardy7! You’re number one now and you deserved it
one now and you deserved it. #11inarow.”
The record capped a remarkable rise for 28-year-old Vardy, who was playing nonleague football in 2012 and had been playing in the seventh tier of English football as recently as 2010.
It was his 14th goal of the campaign, which makes him the league’s top scorer, but Bastian Schweinsteiger’s 46th-minute header — his first United goal — prevented the Foxes from reclaiming first place.
Instead Claudio Ranieri’s side finished the day in second place, a point above United, with Manchester City top on goal difference after overcoming Southampton 3-1 at the Etihad Stadium.
City, thrashed 4-1 at home by archrival Liverpool last week, took an early grip with a tap-in from Belgian sensation Kevin de Bruyne and a shot from the edge of the box from the exciting English star Fabian Delph inside the opening 20 minutes before Shane Long headed in for The Saints soon after half time.
Serbian international Aleksandar Kolarov added the third after 69 minutes as City moved on to 29 points from 14 games.
With fourth-placed Arsenal and fifth-placed Tottenham Hotspur not playing until today, Crystal Palace closed the gap on the leaders when they thrashed struggling Newcastle United 5-1 at Selhurst Park after The Magpies scored first through Papiss Cisse after 10 minutes.
Palace, who had slipped back to 10th after a good start to the season, responded with two goals from Yannick Bolasie, two from James McArthur and one from Wilfried Zaha to send Steve McClaren’s men back into the relegation zone.
The Magpies have 10 points, the same as Bournemouth, who staged a dramatic comeback after trailing 2-0 to Everton then 3-2 with only seconds of stoppage time left before Junior Stanislas equalised with a header to make it 3-3.
Ramiro Funes Mori and Romelu Lukaku had put The Toffees 2-0 ahead before Adam Smith and Stanislas scored to make it 2-2.
Ross Barkley put the visitors 3-2 up after five minutes of additional time before Stanislas’s late goal saved a point for the home side.
Despite those heroics, newly promoted Bournemouth have now gone eight games without a win and remain in the relegation zone on 10 points with Newcastle and Aston Villa, who have only five points and have lost 11 of their 14 games, beneath them.
The Villans lost 3-2 at home to Watford after 10 minutes of stoppage time at Villa Park following a long delay to treat the visitors’ Brazilian goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes, who suffered a head injury.
Sam Allardyce’s Sunderland climbed out of the relegation zone with their second win this week, following up Monday’s 1-0 victory at Palace with a 2-0 win over Stoke City, who had defender Ryan Shawcross sent off in the second half. —