Tottenham 1-2 Leicester: Match report & talking points from second-half Spurs collapse
- Tottenham gave up 1-0 lead at home
- Jamie Vardy returned to haunt Spurs before Bilal El Khannouss fired in the winner
- Ange Postecoglou’s position is surely under threat after a 13th league defeat
A burst of two goals in the opening five minutes of the second half from Leicester City condemed Tottenham Hotspur to a 2-1 home defeat on Sunday afternoon.
Spurs had taken a first-half lead through Richarlison. But were punished for a ponderous restart by a quick-fire double from Jamie Vardy and Bilal El Khannouss.
Victory for Leicester allowed them to climb out of the relegation zone. While Tottenham remain ensconced in the depths of 15th place, closer to the dotted line than the top half of the table.
How the game unfolded
Tottenham’s Premier League matches with Leicester have averaged more goals than any other regularly played fixture in the competition’s history.
It was not immediately apparent that the latest iteration of this duel would follow suit. A pair of porous rearguards afforded each side ample room to canter forward. Yet the ineptitude seeping through both desperately out-of-form outfits had also infected the frontlines. Son Heung-min struck the base of Leicester’s post inside the opening 20 minutes. But the Foxes were not without their own failed forward forays.
Richarlison broke the deadlock shortly after the half-hour mark. Pedro Porro was afforded the freedom of north London to whip in a sumptuous cross. Letting the ball roll to a halt before stepping back and swinging a delivery onto the Brazilian’s peroxide scalp at the back post.
The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was half-empty by the time Vardy fired Leicester level 58 seconds after the restart. Many of the Spurs lineup may as well have been in the queue at Europe’s longest bar. Radu Dragusin and Ben Davies had made it onto the pitch. But both flailed hopelessly at Bobby De Cordova-Reid’s low cross which Vardy bundled over the line.
Barely three minutes had elapsed before El Khannouss compounded Tottenham’s woes. Waltzing through a yawning chasm which seemed to perennially exist on the edge of the Spurs box. Leicester’s attacking midfielder nonchalantly curled a low effort into the bottom corner via the base of the post.
Spurs, the division’s third-top scorers, were uncharacteristically blunt while chasing the สมัคร UFABET วันนี้ รับเครดิตฟรีสำหรับสมาชิกใหม่ game. Postecoglou could not be accused of passivity, reshuffling his midfield and forward line shortly after falling behind. But an attack spearheaded by Son through the middle scarcely forced Jakub Stolarczyk into a meaningful save.
Tottenham’s 13th league loss of the season. More than they suffered throughout the entirety of Postecoglou’s debut campaign was greeted with a chorus of angry boos by the fans who had suffered through to the final whistle.