Tottenham HotspurThe Premier League’s hopes of finishing in the top 4 were dealt another blow as they were battered 4-1 Leicester City despite taking the lead on Saturday.
Goal from Nampalys Mendy, James Maddison, Kelechi Iheanacho And Harvey BarnesLater Rodrigo Bentancur gave Spurs the lead, giving Leicester a third straight win in all competitions.
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Tottenham come to King Power Stadium with the goal of building a victory over the champions City of Manchester last weekend with a 4th win in a row in all competitions and created an early advantage thanks to Bentancur’s close-range finish.
However, the hosts quickly turned the tide when Mendy scored the home side’s equalizer in the 23rd minute before Maddison’s second goal in multiple games completed the first leg two minutes later to stun Spurs.
Nigerian striker Iheanacho added a third goal in first-half injury time to extend Leicester’s lead, with the timing of that strike seemingly killing hopes of winning anything. from Tottenham’s competition.
The visitors attacked little after the break, with Barnes adding a fine fourth goal in the 4th minute as Leicester rose to 13th with 24 points from 22 games.
Spurs are still 5th with 39 points after 23 games.
“I think something changed today after we scored,” said Tottenham assistant manager Cristian Stellini, taking on media duties from manager Antonio Conte, who has returned from surgery. art.
“We surrendered and in this tournament you can’t give up. You have to be consistent in every part of the game. We struggled a lot after the first goal. We are disappointed by that. .
“It’s good for everyone to have Antonio back.”
With Conte sidelined after missing last Sunday’s visit to Manchester City following gallbladder surgery, the Italian should be pleased with his team’s start.
Consecutive wins in the league have kept Spurs close to the top four, with Bentancur’s finish from a corner after 14 minutes giving them hope of climbing to fourth.
But Mendy’s strike from the area, his first for Leicester, restored the balance before Iheanacho made a defensive mistake, who set up Maddison for the goal.
Leicester’s third goal was aided by a slower Spurs defense like Eric Dier standing in front of Iheanacho, allowing the Nigerian to choose his position over the goalkeeper Fraser Forstersubstitute for the injured captain Hugo lloris.
Harvey Barnes thought he’d scored a third in the 70th minute but saw his finish sink, after another mistake by the Spurs defence, was ruled out for offside after a VAR review .
However, the winger could not be denied when he finished quite late to bring back a miserable afternoon for the visitors.
Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers said: “It was an outstanding performance against Tottenham given the threat from the front they had.
“Strong, competitive, really fluid when we had the ball and lots of great attacking moments. Great day, the fans were really cheering for the team.”
