Are Leicester City going to win the English league title for the first time ever?
This time last season the Foxes, not one of the superpowers of English football, were rock bottom of the Premier League and only escaped relegation thanks to a magnificent fightback towards the end of the season. This season, however, they are top of the Premier League after 23 matches with 50 points from a possible 69 so far - something which most football fans definitely did not predict.
They remain top of the table thanks to their 2-0 win against Liverpool last night, with both goals coming from the brilliant Jamie Vardy, whose first goal was a thing of sublime beauty which will challenge for Goal of the Season.
Leicester City - who's best finish so far in a title race was second in 1929 - next match in the Premier League is against second-placed Manchester City this weekend.
Vardy is on top form at the moment and is now the Premier League's top scorer, with Tottenham Hotspur's Harry Kane second. This will surely worry England's opponents at Euro 2016 this summer, with both Vardy and Kane almost certain to be in the England squad. What a fearsome strike partnership that may well be.
Leicester City 2 Liverpool 0, match report: Jamie Vardy scores a wonderstrike as Foxes enhance title credentials
Leicester City vs Liverpool, Premier League - Top scorer adds to his tally in superb fashion to put a major dent in Liverpool's top four hopes
Leicester City 2 - 0 Liverpool
...............J. Vardy 60, 71
Attendance: 32,121
King Power Stadium
Leicester City: Schmeichel, Huth, Simpson, Morgan, Fuchs, Albrighton (Gray 80), Drinkwater, Kanté, Mahrez (Ulloa 90), Vardy, Okazaki (King 87)
Liverpool: Mignolet, Sakho, Clyne, Moreno, Lovren, Lallana, Leiva
, Henderson (Benteke 67), Can (Allen 75), Milner, Firmino (Teixeira 87)
Jamie Vardy scores the first goal for Leicester Photo: Reuters
By Sam Wallace, Chief Football Writer, at the King Power Stadium
Feb 2016
The Telegraph
112 Comments
From the moment Jamie Vardy allowed a ball from Riyad Mahrez in behind the Liverpool defence to drop into his path on the hour at the King Power, and drew back a right boot with intent to do damage, one suspected that this one was only going to end one way.
In fact, it turned out even better than you might have imagined, an outrageous dipping, swerving half-volley that beat Simon Mignolet from 27 yards out in the far right channel. It was hit from such an angle that in the moments when Vardy set himself for the strike, Dejan Lovren seemed to stand off him in the misguided belief that nothing dangerous could possibly be conjured from that position.
What followed was a goal-of-the-season goal from a player-of-the-season player leading the attack for a club that believes it can win the Premier League. By February, the early pacemakers and the surprise packages are supposed to have long since fallen away and left the title race to the clubs that really matter, but Leicester are three points clear and currently not going anywhere.
Vardy's first, a wonder strike, flies past Liverpool's Simon Mignolet
At the Etihad Stadium on Saturday they face second-place Manchester City and then Arsenal at the Emirates eight days after that. By the time they play at the King Power again, on Feb 27 against Norwich, Claudio Ranieri’s team will have a fair idea of how realistic a league title charge might be but before then you would be hard pushed to deny that they are again the form team of the division.
In fact, they look rather like Jurgen Klopp’s vision for Liverpool – a hard-running, fast-pressing, quick-passing team who, as Ranieri said, did not give their opposition “time to think”. Klopp complained again that his team were suffering from fatigue although only Mignolet, Lovren and Nathaniel Clyne started Saturday’s FA Cup tie with West Ham.
Vardy scores the second
Vardy hunted the ball all night, chasing lost causes into every corner of the ground until he got his reward. But Shinji Okazaki was outstanding too, a presence whom Liverpool never got to grips with. Mahrez struck the ball of the night to Vardy for the first goal, like a chip onto the back of the green with backspin to help it to bite and hold its position.
The second goal came amid a blizzard of attacking football from Leicester and put them firmly in control against one of only two sides previously to have inflicted defeat on them in the league this season. Roy Hodgson was there to watch eight English players start the game, a rarity for the England manager, with the added bonus that the matchwinner is in his England squad.
There was only one period when Liverpool looked like they might take control of the game, in the immediate aftermath of half-time when a decent passing sequence set Emre Can up for a chance he missed. Otherwise they found themselves out-fought in midfield a lot of the time and the Lovren-Mamadou Sakho partnership always looked like it was on borrowed time against the remorseless pace of Vardy.
Simon Mignolet had another evening to forget
Leicester hope to announce a new contract until 2019 for the England striker in the next few days and Ranieri made little attempt to disguise the fact that he was dissembling when avoiding a direct question on the subject. The transfer window has closed without any club getting close to prising Vardy away from Leicester which says something about the growing strength of the clubs outside the elite.
Okazaki might have scored with a header in the eighth minute were it not for a fine save from Mignolet and there were other close shaves before half-time which Liverpool reached without conceding. Mahrez had a fine shot touched over the bar after Adam Lallana had given the ball away from a throw-in. Lovren’s emergency tackle on Vardy had presented the ball to the Algerian, 30 yards from goal.
Leicester City manager Claudio Ranieri is eyeing the title
Klopp kept faith in Roberto Firmino in the false nine role, with Christian Benteke only coming off the bench once his team fell behind. His side started the second half with a move between James Milner, Jordan Henderson and then on to Can to shoot wide. The warning signs were there all night about Leicester’s pace on the break and the danger it presented to Liverpool and, as the game became more stretched, it was a bigger problem.
Mahrez eased Henderson out the way rather too easily on 49 minutes and only just mistimed his pass through to Vardy who had strayed offside. There was a Leicester passing sequence on 51 minutes when the Liverpool players seemed unsure how many balls there were on the pitch, let alone where the one was that they were supposed to intercept.
The first goal will stand the test of time and not just for Vardy’s instinctive, brutal finish. It began with Mahrez wriggling clear of Alberto Moreno around the halfway line and then dropping a ball in behind Sakho and Lovren for Vardy to run onto. Neither defender did very well at getting in position, Mignolet was too far off his line and Vardy was not hanging around for anyone.
There was no stopping Vardy
Wide on the right he took his shot first time, outside of the right foot, both feet off the ground, on the half-volley. It bent away from Mignolet and the King Power Stadium rubbed their eyes in disbelief.
The second goal came on 72 minutes when Okazaki’s shot was deflected into the path of Vardy whose alertness and speed took him ahead of Lovren to tuck the ball in. Minutes earlier, Leicester had passed the ball through Liverpool with such pace that it seemed Okazaki had been fouled as he slipped into the area.
When it mattered Leicester had gone up a gear and it was simply impossible for Klopp’s team to live with them. The Liverpool manager tried to force the issue with his team behind but he was up against a more confident, sharper opponent with big ambitions of their own. Their next two games will tell Leicester whether the club’s first league title in 132 years is a possibility. What they know now is that so far, nothing has been beyond them.
Leicester City 2 Liverpool 0, match report: Jamie Vardy scores a wonderstrike as Foxes enhance title credentials - Telegraph
This time last season the Foxes, not one of the superpowers of English football, were rock bottom of the Premier League and only escaped relegation thanks to a magnificent fightback towards the end of the season. This season, however, they are top of the Premier League after 23 matches with 50 points from a possible 69 so far - something which most football fans definitely did not predict.
They remain top of the table thanks to their 2-0 win against Liverpool last night, with both goals coming from the brilliant Jamie Vardy, whose first goal was a thing of sublime beauty which will challenge for Goal of the Season.
Leicester City - who's best finish so far in a title race was second in 1929 - next match in the Premier League is against second-placed Manchester City this weekend.
Vardy is on top form at the moment and is now the Premier League's top scorer, with Tottenham Hotspur's Harry Kane second. This will surely worry England's opponents at Euro 2016 this summer, with both Vardy and Kane almost certain to be in the England squad. What a fearsome strike partnership that may well be.
Leicester City 2 Liverpool 0, match report: Jamie Vardy scores a wonderstrike as Foxes enhance title credentials
Leicester City vs Liverpool, Premier League - Top scorer adds to his tally in superb fashion to put a major dent in Liverpool's top four hopes
...............J. Vardy 60, 71
Attendance: 32,121
King Power Stadium
Leicester City: Schmeichel, Huth, Simpson, Morgan, Fuchs, Albrighton (Gray 80), Drinkwater, Kanté, Mahrez (Ulloa 90), Vardy, Okazaki (King 87)
Liverpool: Mignolet, Sakho, Clyne, Moreno, Lovren, Lallana, Leiva
Jamie Vardy scores the first goal for Leicester Photo: Reuters
By Sam Wallace, Chief Football Writer, at the King Power Stadium
Feb 2016
The Telegraph
From the moment Jamie Vardy allowed a ball from Riyad Mahrez in behind the Liverpool defence to drop into his path on the hour at the King Power, and drew back a right boot with intent to do damage, one suspected that this one was only going to end one way.
In fact, it turned out even better than you might have imagined, an outrageous dipping, swerving half-volley that beat Simon Mignolet from 27 yards out in the far right channel. It was hit from such an angle that in the moments when Vardy set himself for the strike, Dejan Lovren seemed to stand off him in the misguided belief that nothing dangerous could possibly be conjured from that position.
What followed was a goal-of-the-season goal from a player-of-the-season player leading the attack for a club that believes it can win the Premier League. By February, the early pacemakers and the surprise packages are supposed to have long since fallen away and left the title race to the clubs that really matter, but Leicester are three points clear and currently not going anywhere.
Vardy's first, a wonder strike, flies past Liverpool's Simon Mignolet
In fact, they look rather like Jurgen Klopp’s vision for Liverpool – a hard-running, fast-pressing, quick-passing team who, as Ranieri said, did not give their opposition “time to think”. Klopp complained again that his team were suffering from fatigue although only Mignolet, Lovren and Nathaniel Clyne started Saturday’s FA Cup tie with West Ham.
Vardy scores the second
Vardy hunted the ball all night, chasing lost causes into every corner of the ground until he got his reward. But Shinji Okazaki was outstanding too, a presence whom Liverpool never got to grips with. Mahrez struck the ball of the night to Vardy for the first goal, like a chip onto the back of the green with backspin to help it to bite and hold its position.
The second goal came amid a blizzard of attacking football from Leicester and put them firmly in control against one of only two sides previously to have inflicted defeat on them in the league this season. Roy Hodgson was there to watch eight English players start the game, a rarity for the England manager, with the added bonus that the matchwinner is in his England squad.
There was only one period when Liverpool looked like they might take control of the game, in the immediate aftermath of half-time when a decent passing sequence set Emre Can up for a chance he missed. Otherwise they found themselves out-fought in midfield a lot of the time and the Lovren-Mamadou Sakho partnership always looked like it was on borrowed time against the remorseless pace of Vardy.
Simon Mignolet had another evening to forget
Leicester hope to announce a new contract until 2019 for the England striker in the next few days and Ranieri made little attempt to disguise the fact that he was dissembling when avoiding a direct question on the subject. The transfer window has closed without any club getting close to prising Vardy away from Leicester which says something about the growing strength of the clubs outside the elite.
Okazaki might have scored with a header in the eighth minute were it not for a fine save from Mignolet and there were other close shaves before half-time which Liverpool reached without conceding. Mahrez had a fine shot touched over the bar after Adam Lallana had given the ball away from a throw-in. Lovren’s emergency tackle on Vardy had presented the ball to the Algerian, 30 yards from goal.
Leicester City manager Claudio Ranieri is eyeing the title
Klopp kept faith in Roberto Firmino in the false nine role, with Christian Benteke only coming off the bench once his team fell behind. His side started the second half with a move between James Milner, Jordan Henderson and then on to Can to shoot wide. The warning signs were there all night about Leicester’s pace on the break and the danger it presented to Liverpool and, as the game became more stretched, it was a bigger problem.
Mahrez eased Henderson out the way rather too easily on 49 minutes and only just mistimed his pass through to Vardy who had strayed offside. There was a Leicester passing sequence on 51 minutes when the Liverpool players seemed unsure how many balls there were on the pitch, let alone where the one was that they were supposed to intercept.
The first goal will stand the test of time and not just for Vardy’s instinctive, brutal finish. It began with Mahrez wriggling clear of Alberto Moreno around the halfway line and then dropping a ball in behind Sakho and Lovren for Vardy to run onto. Neither defender did very well at getting in position, Mignolet was too far off his line and Vardy was not hanging around for anyone.
There was no stopping Vardy
Wide on the right he took his shot first time, outside of the right foot, both feet off the ground, on the half-volley. It bent away from Mignolet and the King Power Stadium rubbed their eyes in disbelief.
The second goal came on 72 minutes when Okazaki’s shot was deflected into the path of Vardy whose alertness and speed took him ahead of Lovren to tuck the ball in. Minutes earlier, Leicester had passed the ball through Liverpool with such pace that it seemed Okazaki had been fouled as he slipped into the area.
When it mattered Leicester had gone up a gear and it was simply impossible for Klopp’s team to live with them. The Liverpool manager tried to force the issue with his team behind but he was up against a more confident, sharper opponent with big ambitions of their own. Their next two games will tell Leicester whether the club’s first league title in 132 years is a possibility. What they know now is that so far, nothing has been beyond them.
Leicester City 2 Liverpool 0, match report: Jamie Vardy scores a wonderstrike as Foxes enhance title credentials - Telegraph
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