Premier League: Tottenham Hotspur 1 [Richarlison 33] Leicester City 2 [Vardy 46, El Khannouss 50]
Away from the mutinous chants pouring down from the south stand, the unmistakable disgust with Daniel Levy and the gathering angst around Ange Postecoglou, it was possible to forget about Leicester. Ruud van Nistelrooy’s side have endured a horrible winter and, when they found themselves behind to a fragile Tottenham at half-time, they had the look of a group waiting for the sweet release of relegation.
At that stage they were on their way to their eighth consecutive defeat in the Premier League, equalling a club record set in the 2000-01 season. If history was a guide, though, then playing Spurs was good news for Van Nistelrooy. After all Leicester stopped the rot by beating them 4-2 at Filbert Street 24 years ago.
It meant there was almost a grim inevitability to how this match unfolded. In control after Richarlison’s header, it was astonishing to see an injury-hit Spurs collapse in the first five minutes of the second half, 1-0 becoming 1-2 thanks to goals from Jamie Vardy and Bilal El Khannous.
There were tired limbs, frazzled minds and, in the stands, ceaseless angry voices. Spurs fought but Leicester held on for a win that lifts them out of the bottom three, easing the pressure on Van Nistelrooy.
In doing so they might just have pulled Spurs into the relegation picture. Postecoglou’s side remain eight points above the drop zone after one win in 11 games and it would not be a surprise if this defeats brings an end to the Australian’s tenure. The venom directed at Levy certainly felt significant.
There was not much that Postecoglou could do to freshen his team up after a draining win over Hoffenheim in the Europa League. Pape Matar Sarr was back in midfield and Antonin Kinsky replaced Brandon Austin in goal, but the positives were diluted by James Maddison and Djed Spence becoming the absentees through injury.
It felt ominous when Sarr squandered possession in dangerous areas four times in the first 10 minutes. The anxiety was palpable, growing when Rodrigo Bentancur joined his fellow midfielder in giving the ball away early on. It was jittery from Spurs and Leicester saw opportunities to push, a decent chance going to waste when Jordan Ayew finished tamely at the end of a move sparked by adroit play from El Khannous and Victor Kristiansen broke on the left.
There was already a sense that Leicester lacked the conviction to take advantage. Kinsky was forced to intervene when Ben Davies miscued a clearance towards his own goal but the visitors were also guilty of contributing to the mediocrity. The service to Vardy was poor and, for all that Spurs were well below their best, they still came closest to a breakthrough during the opening exchanges. It took excellent saves from Jakub Stolarczyk to deny Pedro Porro and Son Heung-min from long range.
Son, who later hit the bar with a misdirected cross, seemed to fancy his chances against the skittish James Justin on the left. But with Dejan Kulusevski tired on the right, the main point of interest tended to came from the regular chants calling for Levy to quit as chairman.
Postecoglou still seems to have buy-in from the crowd and his players. Here, meanwhile, it helped to be playing opponents as dire as Leicester. How simple it was when Porro whipped in a cross and Richarlison, starting up front with Dominic Solanke out for six weeks, darted away from Wout Faes to make it 1-0 with a thumping header.
Faes always seems to be on the brink of doing something calamitous. Then again, so are Spurs’ defenders. It was messy from the start of the second half. Bentancur clattered into Kristiansen but advantage was played and Sarr failed to react. The midfielder was dozing when Bobby De Cordova-Reid ran off him, latched on to Boubakary Soumaré's perceptive pass and delivered a low cross which eluded Kinsky and ran for Vardy to collect his 10th goal in 18 games against Spurs.
It had taken 58 seconds for Leicester to equalise following the restart. Van Nistelrooy looked like a motivational genius. Spurs were stunned. They were still frozen when Soumaré sparked another counterattack in the 50th minute. Reid fed El Khannous, Spurs backed off and the winger accepted an invitation to thread a low shot past Kinsky from 20 yards.
Now the anger with Levy threatened to boil over. Leicester looked for a third, Vardy’s volley blocked, and there were boos when Postecoglou brought a tiring Richarlison off for Mikey Moore.
But the tweaks made sense. Son moved into the centre, the introduction of Sergio Reguilón for Sarr meant Archie Gray into midfield and Spurs worked themselves into a frenzy. Porro sent a deflected free-kick against the bar and Kulusveski almost beat Stolarczyk.
Leicester were far from secure. They lived dangerously, escaping when Porro dribbled through and shot wide from a tight angle. Postecoglou, again unable to fill his bench, looked at his right back in disbelief. Desperation took over. A lot of Leicester players started to call for the physio. Stolarczyk was eventually booked for timewasting.
For Spurs, though, even the addition of seven minutes was not enough to stop the grumbling. – Guardian
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