Vardy rediscovers lethal touch as Leicester City crush Manchester City
Jamie Vardy ended his three month goal drought with a hat-trick as Premier League champions Leicester City swept past Manchester City 4-2 on Saturday.
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At a rain-soaked King Power Stadium, Vardy hit his first top-flight treble and Andy King also scored to inflict successive league defeats on Pep Guardiola’s expensively assembled outfit.
"We wanted to make sure we were competitive and see the team fighting for the cause and we have done that," Vardy told BT Sport after the game.
Goals from Aleksandar Kolarov and Nolito spared Guardiola his joint heaviest league defeat as a manager. But eyebrows will be raised about whether the Spaniard's side can sustain a title challenge with such a porous defence. They have only kept one clean sheet in 17 games.
"Long balls, second balls, Leicester's players won the second balls and scored fantastic goals," Guardiola told reporters. "Football is a game with mistakes. Our game is not bad, but in the box we have a lot of problems.”
Manchester City are four points behind leaders Arsenal who came from behind to beat Stoke City 3-1 at the Emirates. A Charlie Adam penalty put the visitors in the lead early in the first half. But Theo Walcott levelled just before the pause.
Mesut Ozil’s fifth goal of the season gave the hosts the lead just after half-time and Alex Iwobi wrapped up the points 15 minutes from time. "We got a very unlucky penalty against us, because it is not even a foul in my opinion,” said the Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger. “But we have showed great mental strength. It is down to us to maintain the focus and the desire to improve. We have a chance to fight at the top."
Chelsea will reclaim pole position if they beat West Bromwich Albion at Stamford Bridge on Sunday afternoon.
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