Leicester vs Tottenham match report: Christian Eriksen the Spurs hero as Foxes make it 13 without a win
Leicester City 1 Tottenham Hotspur 2
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Your support makes all the difference.Christian Eriksen’s second-half free-kick gave Tottenham the points after another brave effort by bottom-of-the-table Leicester City came to nothing.
Nigel Pearson’s team have lost 10 of their last 11 Premier League matches and the gap between themselves and safety has widened to six points, although this was a performance, full of threat and energy, that deserved more.
History says that their chances of survival after occupying last place at Christmas are small, only two teams having escaped relegation from that position since the Premier League began.
They could not be faulted for effort yesterday and as their manager watched from the stand – Pearson was serving a touchline ban after his altercation with a fan – he will have been cheered by the determination of his players.
Yet Leicester make things difficult for themselves week after week with costly errors and mistakes were their downfall again yesterday as Harry Kane – who spent four months on loan at the King Power Stadium last year – punished one mistake within the first minute for his 14th goal of the season and, after Leonardo Ulloa had dragged them back on to level terms, Leicester goalkeeper Ben Hamer allowed a free-kick to creep past him for the winner 19 minutes from time.
The home side had clearly been determined to start on the front foot, regardless of their dreadful run of results, yet arguably it cost them the opening goal. Erik Lamela’s pass released Nacer Chadli clear on the left when Leicester were already stretched, chasing back to cover their lines. When Chadli’s low cross arrived in the penalty area, Wes Morgan could not prevent Kane reaching it ahead of him and the in-form striker had the confidence to take a touch before shooting across Hamer and into the corner of the net.
It made life so much harder for Pearson’s team from the outset, yet their energy and work rate were outstanding. Tottenham had their moments in an end-to-end first half, but Leicester gave as good as they got. Ulloa forced Hugo Lloris into a fine fingertip save and later headed a Riyad Mahrez cross against the inside of the Tottenham keeper’s left-hand post. Recalled alongside David Nugent in attack, the Argentinian striker looked a threat.
Kane might have dealt Leicester another setback in first-half stoppage time when he headed a Lamela free-kick wide and perhaps it was that reprieve that gave the home side the impetus to keep pushing hard for the equaliser, which came three minutes into the second half.
Mahrez, who had a superb game on Leicester’s right flank, made the chance, showing greater determination than Nabil Bentaleb to win the ball and, having done so, played a neat low pass to the near post that Ulloa, this time, was able to convert.
The King Power Stadium erupted, as it would have done again five minutes later had a long-range Mahrez free-kick dipped under the bar rather than rebound from it with Lloris beaten. Moments later, the Frenchman made his second first-class save of the afternoon to deny Jeffrey Schlupp.
But perhaps it is simply not in this season’s script for Leicester to survive. Tottenham, for whom manager Mauricio Pochettino had replaced Benjamin Stambouli with Ryan Mason at half-time and Chadli with Roberto Soldado after 63 minutes, had made little impression going forward in the second half but took advantage again when Leicester failed to defend a free-kick on the left conceded by Marcin Wasilewski’s foul on Kane.
Eriksen struck his free-kick well enough but Leicester’s two-man wall parted, allowing the ball to swing in towards the near post, where Hamer was a little late to respond and allowed it to creep past him and in off the woodwork. It gave Tottenham a third consecutive league win under Pochettino for the first time.
Leicester (4-4-2): Hamer, Simpson, Wasilewski, Morgan, Koncheskey (Knockaert, 83), Mahrez, King (James, HT), Drinkwater, Schlupp, Ulloa, Nugent (Vardy, 75).
Tottenham (4-2-3-1): Lloris, Walker, Fazio, Vertonghen, Rose, Stambouli (Mason, HT), Bentaleb, Lamela, Eriksen, Chadli (Soldado, 63), Kane (Paulinho 84).
Man of the match Mahrez.
Booked:
Leicester: Vardy
Tottenham: Walker, Vertonghen
Match rating 7/10.
Referee: N Swarbrick.
Attendance: 31,870
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