Jamie Vardy scored a hat-trick as Leicester City pulled off a stunning victory over Manchester City. Leicester was 2-0 up in five minutes as Vardy ended his 10 game run without a Premier League goal by slotting home and later Andy King curled in moments later. It was 3-0 within minutes as Vardy added another after skipping past visiting keeper Claudio Bravo and he completed his hat-trick by intercepting a misplaced John stones pass. Leicester City has lost back to back league games for the first time since Pep Guardiola took over in the summer and now they after four points adrift leaders Arsenal.
Leicester boss Claudio Ranieri told BBC Sport: “It was the true Leicester, maybe because we have played so badly in our last few matches, but today we were so strong.”We played smart, slowed down the tempo. “I am very pleased for Jamie. When he finished, I said ‘welcome back’.”
Former Leicester defender Matt Elliott on BBC Radio Leicester: “There were a spark and zip about Leicester’s play from the off. You could sense it, freshness in the air. “That’s their best performance by some distance this season and that might just reignite their season, certainly in domestic terms.”
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola told BBC Sport: “Leicester won the second balls and scored fantastic goals.”Football is a game with mistakes, especially today. I would never complain about my players and I will look inside myself and analyze the reason why we have problems with the second balls when they arrive. “Our game is not bad, but in the box, we have a lot of problems.”
Match of the Day pundit Danny Murphy: “That’s as good as I’ve seen Leicester this season; it was like the Leicester of last season. But City didn’t half help them. “Kolarov was supposed to be playing as a third centre-half but he played so far forward, he left Stones isolated. Zabaleta was playing in a weird in-between position and it didn’t look like he knew what he was doing. “Kevin de Bruyne appeared to be at left-wing-back. The communication and lack of line were pretty bad. Kolarov was playing his own game going forward so often. They gave Leicester so many opportunities to attack them. It could have been more. “Fifty changes, they’ve made this season. It’s nice to build relationships and have some familiarity. You can’t keep changing players.”
