Tottenham waved goodbye to their year stint at Wembley with a nine-goal spectacular on Sunday; running out 5-4 winners against a Leicester City side who were coming into the fixture after beating Spurs city rivals, Arsenal, in a 3-1 fixture last Wednesday.
With Jan Vertonghen picking up an injury pre-match, he was replaced with Eric Dier and his inclusion in centre-half was taken advantage of by Leicester in the Belgian’s absence. It was Jamie Vardy who was quickest to a peach of a delivery from Riyad Mahrez on 4 minutes, to head home to break the deadlock. However, three minutes later, Vardy’s international team mate was soon in on the act and Kane made it six goals in his last three appearances against the Foxes. He latched onto a pass from Moura after a careless mistake from Danny Simpson at the back, subsequently slotting the ball into Jakupovic’s near-hand post to make it one each.
After an early assist to his name, Mahrez wanted one for himself at Wembley and the Algerian, who will likely be subject to transfer speculation once more this Summer, done just that. The ball deflected into his path after some scrappy play in the penalty box and Leicester’s star man duly slotted home to put the Foxes back in front. With three goals in the opening 16 minutes, there was finally time to breathe at Wembley. Having said this, this fixture was far from over. Lloris was called into action on 26 minutes as a slick Leicester move ended with Demari Gray who could only force a routine save from the Frenchman. It was Puel’s team asking all the questions and Maguire was next to test Lloris twice in 5 minutes as Leicester looked to go into the break two to the good.
The centre-half though was called into defensive duty before the halves end, poking the ball away for a corner after Harry Kane’s effort and blocking Sissoko’s effort putting it away for a throw in. The second half started with the same intensity as the first and it was Kelechi Iheanacho who put his side 3-1 ahead, from 25 yards out the Nigerian produced a sweetly hit shot with power and precision which crashed the back of Lloris’ net.
However, as with the first goal of the afternoon, it didn’t take a resurgent Tottenham side long to respond to a Foxes goal. After some positive work down the centre, Kyle Walker-Peters was picked out after striding forward to join the attack. The 21-year-old found Eric Lamela ghosting between Leicester’s backline who slotted the ball into an empty net, much to the Leicester players appeals for offside which was certainly not the case. This goal certainly revived a Spurs side who maybe remembered a win would confirm third place above Liverpool and the passage straight through to the Champions League group stages.
With this looming in their mind, it was only four minutes later when Spurs found the back of Jakupovic’s net once more. It seemed that Lemela’s shot was deflected off of Harry Maguire and after some unfortunate ricochet’s the ball struck off Christian Fuchs right knee and into the net, 3-3.
Claude Puel was clearly becoming increasingly exasperated with the situation with his side dropping a two goal lead so rapidly and it got worse on the hour mark. Lemela and Walker-Peters doubled up again in similar fashion after a flash of inept defending from Demari Gray. The u21 England internationals chested touch fell into the path of his international team mate who was lurking in behind him to once again find Lemela, on his own, who easily passed the ball past Jakupovic. Spurs comeback was complete and Leicester crumbled and were made to pay for moment of uncertainty and incompetency in their back-line.
Nonetheless, if there is one thing we have learnt about the Leicester City side in recent seasons, it is that they don’t know when to give up and Jamie Vardy was keen to show why he should have a place in Southgate’s XI come Russia. It was the dominant pair of Mahrez and Vardy who linked up again for the Foxes to secure their sides fourth goal of the afternoon and Vardy’s 20th of the season. Mahrez picked up the ball on the attack and slotted Vardy in to produce a spectacular finish at a tight angle to make it eight goals in the afternoons fixture.
With Vardy having a brace to his name, responsibility was handed over to Kane to try and bag another and produce his best ever goal scoring season in the Premier League. To no surprise, he did just that. Spurs number 10 picked up the ball just outside the Leicester box and drew in Hamza Choudhury, whose inexperience showed as he was drawn into try and block a dummied Kane attempt. As he approached the box he played an exquisite curling shot around Wes Morgan and past the on looking Jakupovic in goal. 5-4 Spurs was how it would finish at Wembley with both teams putting on a match winning performance.
MOTM: Riyad Mahrez. The Algerian showed his class as he may once more be looking for a move away from the King Power. He assisted both Vardy goals and got on the scoresheet himself in an impressive performance.
Tottenham: Lloris, Kyle Walker-Peters, Alderweireld, Dier, Rose, Sissoko (Son Heung-Min, 84) Wanyama, Lamela (Sanchez, 78) Eriksen, Lucas (Alli, 74) Kane. Unused Subs: Davies, Llorente, Foyth, Vorm.
Leicester: Jakupovic, Simpson (Choudhury, 56) Morgan, Maguire, Fuchs, Silva, Iborra, Mahrez, Iheanacho (Barnes, 85) Gray (Diabate, 61) Vardy. Unused Subs: Hamer, Benalouane, Ndukwu, Hughes.
Written by Eamon Kitching.
