Leicester 2 Liverpool 0
It is the story that keeps on giving and to think that the Hollywood screenwriter who plans to make a film about Jamie Vardy was in the stands to watch the latest chapter in this remarkable tale unfold. Roy Hodgson was also in the crowd and unable to suppress a smile as Vardy scored twice – the first a contender for goal of the season – on a night when Leicester looked authentic title challengers in every sense.
Vardy was magnificent and this was some way to celebrate the new three-and-a-half-year contract he will sign this week. He has now scored 18 Premier League goals this season and will probably never score a better one than the outrageous volley that left Simon Mignolet clutching at thin air.
It was a breathtaking moment of improvised brilliance and one that Adrian Butchart, who was behind the “Goal!” movies and looking on from Vardy’s executive box, will do well to recreate.
Vardy, however, was not finished and added a second from six yards out, in the 72nd minute, to put the game beyond Liverpool and maintain Leicester’s three-point lead at the top of the table before Saturday’s pivotal game at Manchester City. As for Liverpool, the harsh reality is that Jürgen Klopp’s team were unable to cope with Leicester’s intensity and, in particular, the class of Vardy.
Fast and furious, the game was played at an incredible pace from the start as both teams tore at one another at every opportunity. It was breathless stuff at times, especially in the opening half hour, and impossible not to admire the spirit and tenacity in a Leicester team that chase every ball as if their life depends on it and attack with such speed and incision.
All those attributes came together in the ninth minute, when Mignolet made the first of two wonderful first-half saves to deny Leicester an early lead. Danny Drinkwater snapped at Jordan Henderson’s heels on the halfway line and in the blink of an eye the industrious Shinji Okazaki was on to the ball and releasing Jamie Vardy in the inside-left channel, where he loves to roam.
Clipping the ball on the run with his left foot, Vardy delivered a perfectly weighted cross that picked out Okazaki, who did not have to break his stride as he met the ball with his head from six yards out.
A goal seemed inevitable but Mignolet, to his immense credit, produced a brilliant instinctive save to turn the ball on to the top of the crossbar and behind.
Riyad Mahrez had already gone close to giving Leicester the lead by that point in a sign of things to come. There were only 67 seconds on the clock when the Algerian cut inside on to his favoured left foot and curled a low 20-yard shot that flashed narrowly wide of Mignolet’s far post.
Liverpool also had their moments in the first half and Klopp was unable to conceal his frustration on occasions as they failed to make the most of some promising positions. Mamadou Sakho and Roberto Firmino were playing a game of head-tennis in the Leicester area at one stage when either man could have gone for goal. Alberto Moreno, striding into the space that opened up invitingly for him on the Liverpool left, should also have done better with a wild shot that sailed high and wide.
Moments before that Mignolet had showed in the space of two minutes why Liverpool supporters cannot make their minds up about him. The Belgian did superbly well to turn Mahrez’s sumptuous 25-yard curling shot over the bar with his left hand but then allowed a Christian Fuchs throw-in to slip through his hands in a moment of consternation in the Liverpool area.
Liverpool started the second half brightly and put together a lovely move within a few minutes of the restart. James Milner and Henderson combined to set up Emre Can, whose right-footed shot from 10 yards, with the angle slightly against him, was deflected behind.
What followed at the other end, however, was nothing short of astonishing. Mahrez was deep inside Leicester’s half and close to the touchline when he shifted the ball on to his left foot and swept a long lofted pass that encouraged Vardy to run in behind the Liverpool defence.
It was the sort of ball that Vardy relishes yet this was no ordinary sprint into the channel. With one swing of his right boot the England international thumped an audacious 25-yard volley that flew into the near top corner.
Liverpool never recovered from that blow and conceded a second 12 minutes later. Okazaki’s deflected shot ran into the path of Vardy and he cleverly lifted the ball into the far corner of the net, this time with his left foot. “England’s No9” and “We’re gonna win the league,” chanted the jubilant Leicester supporters.
Guardian services
