Leicester City vs Tottenham Hotspur. Premier League.
The King Power StadiumAttendance31,950.
Wednesday 29 November 2017 07:01, UK
Two stunning goals from Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez helped Leicester battle to a 2-1 victory over Tottenham on Tuesday.
Vardy opened the scoring (13) with a sumptuous first-time volley before Mahrez added a second just before the break (45+1) with an inch-perfect curler from the edge of the box.
Christian Eriksen was guilty of missing a sitter before Harry Kane pulled one back (79) following an assist from Erik Lamela, who came on to make his first appearance for Spurs in 13 months.
Fernando Llorente then volleyed over from six yards out as Leicester held on to pick up their fourth league win of the season and inflict a fourth defeat on Spurs, who remain 13 points behind leaders Manchester City.
Leicester took the lead thanks to a fine finish from Vardy, who allowed the ball to drop over his shoulder from Marc Albrighton's cross before looping it over Hugo Lloris from barely 10 yards out.
Spurs almost hit back immediately, but Kasper Schmeichel took the sting out of Moussa Sissoko's attempt before Vicente Iborra rushed back to make a goal-line clearance.
It was then Dele Alli's turn to be denied by Schmeichel, with the Dane getting down low to keep out the midfielder's effort.
The hosts were punished for those missed opportunities just before half-time when Mahrez burst down the wing before cutting onto his left and curling a beauty past Lloris.
The second half saw Spurs throw everything at Leicester, but Eriksen could not reduce the deficit when shanking an effort with his right foot when he should have gone with his left.
Three minutes later, Kane pulled one back for Spurs after firing into the top corner from Lamela's threaded ball through for the striker.
A nervy finish then saw Llorente send a volley over at the back post before Danny Rose's claims for a penalty were correctly waved away by referee Anthony Taylor.
Leicester's counter-attacking threat was reminiscent of their 2015/16 Premier League-winning campaign, particularly with Vardy and Mahrez leading the line, but it was summer signing Iborra who stood out in midfield for the Foxes.
The Spaniard made a vital goal-line clearance in the first half, while his 11 clearances - four more than any other player - were vital on what was ultimately a frustrating night for Spurs, who came up against a dogged Leicester side.
"It was an outstanding game from start to finish, but the quality of the goals was simply lovely. Mauricio Pochettino will be concerned about losing a game again and they could be 16 points behind Manchester City going into the weekend's game against Watford. From a Leicester point of view they were fantastic."
Claude Puel: "It was a big win with quality. It was a fantastic game for us. In the first 30 minutes we tried to play on the floor as well as play on the counter-attack.
"The goals from Jamie and Riyad were fantastic and this is amazing for the future.
"After the second half it was more difficult, but we had more opportunities. It was a very good game and it's important to continue this hard work on the pitch in the training sessions. It's just one game but it's promising."
Mauricio Pochettino: "The second half we were more aggressive and started to play the game. We were critical of ourselves at half-time and it's difficult to start the way we did and win games.
"We were so poor in our performance. We need to improve and be critical about our performance, because we did not play the way we are used to.
"We need to assess it and take responsibility. We cannot start like this. We spoke before the game about our focus but we were poor in this phase of the game."
Leicester host Burnley in a 3pm kick-off on Saturday, while Tottenham travel to Watford at the same time as they look to bounce back from their three-game winless run in the league.
