Spurs 1 - 1 LeicesterLeicester’s Ahmed Musa strikes to frustrate blunt Tottenham
Home team scorersVincent Janssen 44 Pen
Away team scorersAhmed Musa 48
Tottenham have the defence to win the title. It has taken them 10 matches to concede from open play in the league this season and none of their rivals can match Mauricio Pochettino’s side when it comes to defensive excellence. Yet whether Tottenham have enough in attack to last the pace is more debatable. This was another blunt performance from Mauricio Pochettino’s side, who are crying out for the return of Harry Kane, and they lost more ground on Arsenal and Manchester City after being held by Leicester.
Ahmed Musa’s equaliser earned the champions their first away point of the season and the draw was far more useful for Leicester. With Arsenal and City winning, Tottenham needed to win. But despite taking the lead through Vincent Janssen’s penalty, they dropped two points and have not won since beating City here at the start of October.
There was little to suggest that either side had anything more than half an eye on their midweek Champions League fixture. Neither manager seized an opportunity to rest players and the first half was full of crunching tackles, energetic running and furious pressing, engaging enough to watch for a while but slightly wearying without someone to put his foot on the ball and slow things down for a while or two. The search for space had been elusive and there was little to suggest that a goal was on the way before Janssen gave Tottenham the lead before half-time.
With Tottenham struggling to find holes in Leicester’s defensive wall in open play, it felt likely that any breakthrough would stem from an error and Leicester duly obliged when Robert Huth hauled Janssen down in the area, leaving Robert Madley with no option but to point to the spot. The German has never been a defender who respects the personal space of his opponents and the way he clambered all over Janssen as the striker tried to turn could be seen as another sign of the decline that has infected his game this season.
Huth’s roughhouse defending was another example of how Leicester have undermined themselves on their travels, his sloppiness coming at the end of a half in which Ranieri’s side were often comfortable. Janssen’s penalty, driven firmly past Kasper Schmeichel, was the 14th goal Leicester have conceded in their first five away matches. That blip aside, however, this was a return to last season’s solidity, with the organisation, determination and willingness of Claudio Ranieri’s players to throw their bodies in the way of countless shots heightening Tottenham’s frustration.
Leicester focused on containment for much of the first half, although they were dangerous on the break. From Riyad Mahrez’s dangerous cross, Shinji Okazaki glanced over, while Christian Fuchs hammered a volley just over.
Dele Alli had threatened, forcing Kasper Schmeichel to save with a fierce drive from 18 yards before sidefooting against the bar from Kyle Walker’s cutback, but Tottenham lacked a cutting edge without Erik Lamela, who was missing because of illness. Alli’s output was probing without success, Son Heung-min probed without success and Christian Eriksen was guilty of several poor deliveries from set-pieces.
Deputising for Harry Kane, who could return from his knee injury against Bayer Leverkusen on Wednesday, Janssen is yet to adapt to English football since his £17m move from AZ Alkmaar in the summer and he did not look mobile enough to lead the line for Tottenham, failing to escape his markers or act as a foil for the trio of support players behind him.
Janssen did deserve credit for the strength he displayed when he latched on to Eriksen’s chipped free-kick and held off Danny Drinkwater and Huth, who was penalised for his lack of subtlety more than anything else, but it must be a concern for Pochettino that the striker’s first three goals for his new side have all come from the spot.
Tottenham’s attacking deficiencies gave Leicester hope and the visitors were not behind for long. Three minutes into the second half, Victor Wanyama’s careless header released Vardy away down the right and he rolled a cross to the far post, where the lively Musa arrived to force the ball past Hugo Lloris.
As a measure of how difficult it is to score against Tottenham from open play, perhaps nothing sums it up better than the way Musa had to put his body on the line when he equalised. The winger briefly lay in a crumpled heap in the back of the net after colliding with Lloris, but it was worth the pain. Although Jan Vertonghen sent a late header against the bar, Tottenham could have used some of that persistence in attack.
Guardian