The Sports Lowdown For All Your News and OpinionsJamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez proved unstoppable once again as Leicester earned a huge three points against last year’s champions.
The Foxes returned to the top of the league and have now established a nine-point gap from 5th place. A point would have been enough to see Leicester in the top four on Christmas day but with Chelsea in real trouble near the bottom half of the table, Claudio Ranieri was able to get one over on his former club by taking all three.
Leicester took the lead in this fixture last season and did so again through Vardy this time. The ball was given to Mahrez on the right-wing who cut inside on his favoured left foot to curl an inviting cross into the Chelsea box. Vardy made a great run to the near-post before smashing home a volley to give the hosts the lead.
Both sides suffered injury setbacks in this game with Danny Drinkwater having to leave the field early on for Leicester and Eden Hazard for Chelsea shortly after.
Chelsea dominated possession as most teams have against the Foxes this season, but this means nothing against a side with a lethal counter-attack.
The Foxes went in at the break unthreatened with Kasper Schmeichel having very little to do. Just like in the first half, Leicester came out of the blocks much faster than the visitors in the second period and extended their lead within three minutes of the restart.
Mahrez made some space at the back post and brilliantly trapped a cross from Marc Albrighton, before using his trickery to strike a fierce shot into the top left corner.
This was the Algerian’s 11th goal of the season and he continued his fine form after the hat-trick at Swansea last weekend. With Mahrez’s 11 goals and 7 assists alongside Vardy’s 15 goals for the season, it’s no wonder why the Foxes are flying so far as no team has managed to prevent Leicester from scoring.
Chelsea did manage to pull a goal back within the final quarter of an hour through a Loic Remy header, but it was nothing more than a nervy finish to the game as Leicester held on to the win.
It was a great team effort from the Foxes with N’Golo Kante standing out once again, but the captain Wes Morgan did an excellent job of marking Diego Costa, limiting him to one clear-cut chance in the whole game.
Jose Mourinho’s men remain 16th in the Premier League, remarkably just one point above the bottom three. The pressure mounts on Chelsea as there still seems to be some sort of divide in the dressing room; only Thibaut Courtois, Branislav Ivanovic and Cesar Azpilicueta went over to the away fans at the final whistle.
As for Leicester, their tough run of fixtures has gotten off to a fantastic start and in this run of form they stand a great chance of repeating the performance at Everton on Saturday.
