Dynamic duo leave Spurs out for count
JAMIE VARDY’S 100th league goal piled on Tottenham’s Premier League frustrations against a determined Leicester. Vardy struck a devastating early blow to show the Foxes’ intentions before Riyad Mahrez doubled their lead, only for Harry Kane to ensure a nervous finish for Claude Puel’s side.
Victory for Leicester made it three Premier League games without a win for Spurs, who improved markedly after the break and rained pressure on the Foxes goal.
Leicester looked to take the initiative from the start, and, after Wilfred Ndidi’s low shot had been comfortably saved by Hugo Lloris, a towering header by Wes Morgan was hooked off the line by Danny Rose.
The Foxes continued to look to catch Spurs on the counter-attack and took the lead with a move of simple brilliance in the 12th minute.
Vicente Iborra won possession and Harry Maguire switched play to find Marc Albrighton out wide and he sent Vardy through with a chip into the space. The England striker showed fantastic awareness to produce a stretching volley on the angle, giving Lloris no chance.
Mauricio Pochettino, right, will have been concerned by his side’s occasional sloppiness which was not confined to their passing as Kane demonstrated with a shooting chance that flew way over the bar after he had cut inside.
Iborra was having an outstanding night and he showed Kane how to do it with a much more accurate – and difficult – effort in the 26th minute when his volley bounced a couple of feet wide.
Counter-attacking was looking the best route to goal and Spurs looked to create one of their own from a Leicester corner in the 32nd minute.
Christian Eriksen surged forwards and with Kane in hot pursuit to his right and Dele Alli beyond him, he chose the latter but Alli failed to connect properly.
Leicester went close to a second goal from an unexpected source on 33 when Rose’s clearance from Vardy’s cross drifted inches the wrong side of Lloris’s post. But Spurs continued to pose a threat and Rose tried his luck with an ambitious chest and volleyed effort from Kane’s magnificent crossfield pass but his shot flew over the bar
But there was no stopping Leicester and they made it 2-0 with another brilliant goal in time added on at the end of the first half. Mahrez took a short pass and, with Rose caught out of position, cut inside. Jan Vertonghen continued to back off and Mahrez’s punishment was ruthless as he unleashed a fabulous curling shot which ripped past Lloris.
Leicester should have made it 3-0 in the 55th minute. A slaloming run from Ben Chilwell took him past two challenges and from Vardy’s cross whipped in fiercely from the right, Shinji Okazaki could only glance over the bar.
After absorbing heavy pressure, Leicester broke with devastating effect through Vardy, who ran half the length of the field but over-ran his final touch. Spurs forward Eric Lamela, who had been out of action for 399 days after surgery on both hips, came off the bench to clinical effect in the 77th minute.
Within a minute of his arrival, he escaped his marker to accept Son’s pass and find Kane, who fired into the roof of the net.
Spurs’ frustrations were complete when they were denied a penalty in time added on when Ndidi caught Rose’s foot as he danced through in the box.