Leicester 4 - 2 Man CityJamie Vardy hat-trick leads Leicester demolition of Manchester City
Home team scorersJamie Vardy 3
Andy King 5
Jamie Vardy 20
Jamie Vardy 78
Away team scorersAleksandar Kolarov 82
Manuel Agudo Nolito 90
Leicester have performed like a wan tribute act for most of the domestic season but here they showed the qualities of which they are really made, and it was Manchester City who looked bogus. Jamie Vardy scored a hat-trick and Andy King once as Claudio Ranieri’s men blew away a Pep Guardiola side that lacked the mettle to go with their frilly pretensions. Aleksandar Kolarov and Nolito’s late goals did not mask that.
Snow machines and reindeers gladdened the atmosphere outside the King Power before kick-off but a look at the Premier League table risked detracting from the festive cheer of both clubs. This was a meeting of the faltering champions and the stuttering pre-season title favourites. The former, of course, were in far worse a predicament that the latter but both were eager to reverse substandard form. And both began with their armouries weakened.
Sergio Agüero and Fernandinho were absent because of the start of their suspensions for being sent off during in last weekend’s home defeat by Chelsea, forcing Guardiola to alter his Manchester City lineup, with Kelechi Iheanacho making a rare start up front.
Leicester came into the game hoping to begin jilting comparison with Manchester City’s class of 1938, the only English champions to be relegated the season after winning the title. Results earlier in the day had left them one point above the relegation zone. They, too, were handicapped by suspension, Danny Drinkwater serving the final match of a three-game ban. The lifeless midweek performance by fringe players in Porto persuaded Ranieri to redeploy the players who had started last weekend’s 2-1 defeat at Sunderland.
The manager had admitted before this week that “we are missing everything from last season,” but all he seemed willing to do was trust that the magic will return. His employers remained fellow believers. “I’m confident we have the personnel to put things right – both in the playing squad and among Claudio and his staff,” wrote the club’s vice-chairman, Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha, in the programme.‚“Everything we have achieved together has always been through unity, positivity and the strength of our spirit. It is those qualities that will turn the tide in our favour.”
It took just three minutes for the players to reward that faith. They opened the scoring after Robert Huth powered a header forward and Riyad Mahrez helped it on with a delicious flick to Islam Slimani, who threaded a nice pass through to Vardy. The striker, showing no evidence of a loss confidence following 15 games without a goal, lashed a low drive into the bottom corner. Three minutes later Leicester increased their lead. Again Huth and Slimani were instrumental, the former heading on a throw-in to the latter, who laid the ball back to Andy King at the edge of the area. The midfielder struck it first-time into the top corner.
Leicester were playing with the vibrancy they have lacked for most of the season. The visitors’ were defending feebly, especially when Huth ventured into the box. In the 12th minute the German headed another long throw from Christian Fuchs on to Slimani, who volleyed wide from eight yards. City, intricately going nowhere, eventually forced Ron-Robert Zieler to make his first save of the match in the 19th minute. One minute later Leicester forced Claudio Bravo to pick the ball out of the net for the third time thanks to a move of simple brilliance.
Fuchs found Mahrez with a long pass from the back and the Algerian put Vardy through with another exquisite first-time pass. The striker raced around Bravo and scored.
For a Leicester side seeking to rediscover the straightforward virtues of last season, City were proving perfect opponents. They seemed surprised by Leicester’s energy and directness – and confused by their own hifalutin’ scheming. It is not anti-intellectual to suggest they were trying to recite poetry before showing they had learned their ABC.
City hogged possession for the remainder of the first half but failed to penetrate Leicester’s defence and remained vulnerable to counter-attacks. Slimani should have made it 4-0 before the break but headed wide from eight yards as City’s defenders watched.
Guardiola made no personnel changes at half-time. Nor did Leicester, obviously. Within five minutes City mounted a bigger threat than they had managed in the first period, but Iheanacho failed to connect with a cross from Jesus Navas, and Kevin De Bruyne then dragged a shot wide from the edge of the area.
Ranieri pumped his fists and hollered on the sidelines, exhorting his players to maintain their concentration and dynamism as City probed. Swift, imaginative interplay took City into Leicester’s box just before the hour, before Iheanacho teed up İlkay Gündogan, who shot wide from 18 yards. Guadiola figured his team needed new impetus, so introduced Raheem Sterling and Yaya Touré.
Pablo Zabaleta, operating in a puzzling free role, popped up on the edge of the right-hand corner of Leicester’s box in the 62nd minute and curled a shot narrowly wide. Then, up at the other end, Slimani barged past two defenders and forced a save from Bravo.
City lurched further into farce in the 78th minute, as John Stones played a backpass without looking. Vardy inflicted suitable punishment on his England colleague, intercepting and netting from an acute angle. Kolarov expertly converted a free-kick four minutes later, and crossed for Nolito to score from close range before the end, but those were footnotes in a story of renewed glory for Leicester and flawed plotting by City.
Guardian
