Leicester 1 Tottenham 1: Jamie Vardy earns Foxes point on Prem return aged 37 as Spurs fail to finish off new boys
SPURS supporters have waited all summer for the answer.
Would Ange Postecoglou‘s side return to the form which saw them storm to 10 games without defeat at the start of last season?
Or would they resemble the team who only scraped four wins in their last 11 fixtures to stumble across the finish line?
In the end they were both!
Brilliant during a devastating first 45 in which Pedro Porro headed them in front.
Unsure of themselves and rattled after the break as Jamie Vardy became Leicester’s oldest ever Premier goalscorer aged 37!
Steve Cooper may be a new Fox but he’s definitely an old Fox when it comes to management.
He kept an ace up his sleeve for Postecoglou as he handed a shock start to the Leicester City legend – and how Vardy repaid his faith in him.
The old boy had only managed half an hour of Leicester’s opening pre-season game against Villarreal before limping off injured.
But significantly he managed to score in that brief appearance and Cooper was clearly banking on the veteran to prove he can still hack it at this level.
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Turns out he can – even though he has been sidelined for weeks now as he recuperated!
It was a huge ask but it showed why Cooper has yet to sign a back-up striker.
That’s exactly what Postecoglou did in the summer as he splashed £65million on Dominic Solanke to provide a cutting edge for Spurs.
If ever there was a match made for strikers to impress in it was this one.
This fixture has produced 128 goals in 34 Premier League meetings – historically the highest scoring average goals per game (3.76) of all Prem fixtures to have been played more than 20 times.
In Leicester’s last season in the Prem the two fixtures between the clubs produced 13 goals as Spurs won 6-2 on home soil while Leicester won 4-1 at the King Power.
Spurs were clearly in the mood to maintain the trend as they carved out a string of excellent early chances as they blew the Foxes apart in a whirlwind start.
Rodrigo Bentancur, who was later stretchered off after being knocked out briefly, thought he had made an early breakthrough when he powered in a header from a James Maddison corner after six minutes.
However, despite beating Mads Hermansen the Foxes were rescued by a spectacular goaline clearance from Wilfried Ndidi, who acrobatically hooked the ball clear.
Brennan Johnson then powered in a volley which Hermansen beat away.
Spurs continued to surge forward and Solanke saw a diving header held by Hermansen before Cristian Romero flashed a header just wide.
Tottenham’s aerial superiority was clear and Solanke had another header saved by Hermansen as the home side suffered a stormy return to the top flight.
So it came as no surprise when Spurs took the high road again to snatch the lead just before the half hour mark.
James Maddison yet again found an empty patch of turf to work his magic and curled in a teasing cross.
Pedro Porro accepted the invitation and beat Bobby De Cordova-Reid to the ball, then left Hermansen helpless with a glancing header into the far corner of the net.
It meant the Spaniard carried on where he had left off last season when he scored in Spurs 3-0 win at Sheffield United on the final day of the campaign.
He must love Postecoglou’s freedom to roam as he constantly caused Leicester headaches popping up in the inside right channel.
For his goal he was dead centre of goal – exactly where you would have expected Solanke to be.
However as Spurs new striker had fluffed his two headers, no doubt he was grateful for the lesson in finishing.
Maddison was at the heart of everything and he almost carved out a second when he shaped up to strike a free kick.
Instead he flighted a perfect delivery to the back post where Brennan Johnson crashed a volley narrowly wide.
The gulf in class by half-time was almost embarrassing as Spurs clocked up 22 touches inside the Leicester box, while the Foxes only had ONE inside the visitors’ penalty area.
Even when Vardy scampered on to a long Wout Faes through ball Guglielmo Vicario raced yards out of his box to deny him with a diving header.
But it is impossible to keep Vardy out of the headlines – the bigger the occasion, the bigger the response.
Somehow he managed to haul Leicester off the ropes and back into this game with an equaliser just before the hour.
Victor Kristiansen’s low cross just failed to pick out De Cordova-Reid but was recycled by Abdul Fatawu on the right.
As Destiny Udogie stood off him, Fatawu sat up an inviting cross and Vardy appeared at the back post to head home.
Cue bedlam!
It may have been Vardy’s eighth goal on the opening day of a season – only Mo Salah has more – but he celebrated like a spring chicken!
Who needs a pre-season when you can pop a couple of cans of Red Bull?
Incredibly he could even have won it for Leicester.
Decordova-Reid and Facundo Buonanotte combined and the Argentine sent Vardy sprinting clear of Porro.
But Vicario dived to his left to brilliantly keep out his low shot to deny the veteran hitman.
However the atmosphere changed completely when Bentancur took a sickening blow to the head following a mid-air clash with Leciester winger Abdul Fatawu.
Medics rushed on to the pitch with the star knocked out, with players from both sides barely able to look.
The game was delayed for six minutes before the Uruguayan midfielder, 27, was stretchered off, having been given oxygen on the same pitch where he had ruptured his ACL in February 2023.
He was replaced by Archie Gray, who came on as the concussion sub.
When play recommenced Postecoglou – who later confirmed that Bentancur appeared to have recovered and was talking again – made four changes while Cooper replaced Vardy with Stephy Mavididi.
But Vardy made sure he gave the goading Spurs fans as good as he got – sending them a reminder of how many trophies he and they have won.
Both sides came close to snatching all three points in stoppage time.
Mavididi robbed Lucas Bergvall on the touchline, and it took a stunning reflex save from Vicario to keep out Ndidi’s netbound header.
Then Spurs sub Richarlison headed over from four yards following a Bergvall free kick.
Clearly, the Brazilian is no Jamie Vardy!