Leicester City 1-1 Manchester UnitedJamie Vardy 24
Away team scorersBastian Schweinsteiger 45 +0:02
Jamie Vardy scored yet again, making it 11 matches in a row, and erasing Ruud van Nistelrooy from the Premier League record books.Jamie Vardy remains in dreamland but Leicester were unable to match his bravado or to capitalise on his opening goal by returning to the top of the Premier League table. If there was any disappointment at having to share the points with Manchester United it was mitigated by a new scoring record and the fact that the visitors were also prevented from going top.
Leicester beat United in one of the more famous results from last season but the stakes are higher for both sides now. The result might not have been the most notable aspect of this game though at least Leicester showed their current position is not a false one. On the only other occasion they have faced opponents from the Champions League bracket this season, Arsenal gave them a 5-2 hiding and their only defeat to date.
There was no suggestion of that here, the two sides were as evenly matched as the score suggests. Manchester United reverted to the three centre-back system they started out with under Louis van Gaal for their visit to the erstwhile league leaders, not out of respect for Vardy’s scoring streak but because Marcos Rojo had to pull out injured.
Predictably all the attention was on Vardy in the opening stages, the striker having to cope with the novel pressure of a huge weight of expectation, yet it was Riyad Mahrez who was causing the United defence most problems. Ashley Young was deservedly cautioned for pulling back the Algerian when beaten early in the game, and Daley Blind was lucky not to join him in the book for a blatant block on the same player a few minutes later.
The significance of Young’s booking was seen when Vardy sent an already loud stadium into full-on party mode midway through the first half. The wing-back knew he had to either check Vardy’s run or stay with him, and in the event he could do neither. He was clearly tempted to tug the striker’s shirt but thought better of it, undoubtedly due to his earlier yellow, and Vardy was free to steal in behind Paddy McNair and provide the finish Christian Fuchs’ glorious pass deserved. It was the sort of goal you could see happening almost in advance, once the move started, and the greatest compliment one could pay the scorer was that as soon as he read Fuchs’ intentions and began his run there was never any doubt how he would finish it.
A new Premier League record deserves enormous credit, even if Jimmy Dunne’s all-time top flight record is still another goal and game away, yet Mahrez was still unwilling to be upstaged. As Leicester began to show their attacking class in a period of pressure before the interval he first brought a save from David de Gea with a shot from a narrow angle, then delighted the home fans with another piece of skill on the edge of the area to create another opening.
United weathered that storm, though they were not really producing much in reply. Again there was too much space between midfield and attack, with the inclusion of Juan Mata not significantly raising the levels of creativity after the sterile display against PSV in midweek.
However, right on the stroke of the interval the visitors managed to draw level from a set piece. Bastian Schweinsteiger had narrowly failed to meet an Anthony Martial cross in front of goal a few minutes earlier, but when Blind sent over a corner from the right in virtually the last act of the first half the German met it solidly even with Shinji Okazaki hanging off his back. Kasper Schmeichel had no chance with the firmest of headers from six yards.
While parity slightly flattered United at the break, they almost took the lead at the start of the second half from an almost identical set piece.
David De Gea congratulates Jamie Vardy at the end of the match.
This time Blind dummied a free kick on the right to let Young send over a cross. Schweinsteiger was the target and once again he made a powerful connection, only for Schmeichel to react quickly and beat away his header. After an hour the game was finely poised. Leicester had lost their initial attacking urgency and United’s slow build-ups were gradually moving them further up the pitch.
With more of the contest now taking place in the Leicester half the home side were going to need a breakaway goal to regain the lead, and it should have arrived when Mahrez launched a quick counter from his own half, got goal-side of Blind and laid the ball off to his left to allow Leonardo Ulloa a clear shooting opportunity. The newly arrived substitute’s shot was on target but lacked conviction, De Gea saved with his feet and United breathed again.
Wayne Rooney was substituted with more than 20 minutes to go, before Vardy missed a 90th-minute chance to either score or set up a winner. A draw was a fair result.
