Tottenham 6-2 Leicester
by Dom Smith
at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium

HIS hands must now sting, but no amount of applauding his players was going to save Brendan Rodgers from the now oh-so familiar disheartened feeling at the full-time whistle. If the Premier League itself had offered Tottenham free choice for who to face after their late collapse to Sporting in midweek, it would no doubt have been Leicester City and poor Danny Ward.

It was a match epitomised by Spurs’ third of six goals — where Rodrigo Bentancur nicked the ball off Wilfred Ndidi to restore Tottenham’s lead within two minutes of the restart.

Though Bentancur’s goal absolutely was, their original lead was not one that Leicester simply handed them on a silver platter. It was the Foxes, rock bottom of the league, who broke the deadlock at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Belgian midfielder Youri Tielemans has given away more penalties than any other player in the Premier League’s last two seasons. Now he got his chance to score one after Davinson Sanchez clipped James Justin. Tielemans was denied by a wondrous, reaching save by Hugo Lloris. But wait. VAR said the French goalkeeper had encroached off his line early. One of the great Premier League penalty saves lost in history to a mere inch or two. Leicester got their slice of luck and Tielemans got his goal second time round. He lashed home.

Four minutes and the visitors led. No need to panic; Harry Kane came into the game with 17 goals in 14 Premier League games against the Foxes. Now 18 in 15 as he headed home via Ward’s midriff from Dejan Kulusevski’s gorgeous in-swinging cross.

Eight minutes and now 1–1. A breathless start, and we weren’t done yet. From Ivan Perisic’s corner, Eric Dier dusted off that signature near-post dart of his. Back in the England team and now back in the goals; he glanced the ball accurately over Ward’s and into the net.

So Leicester can’t defend corners, learned absolutely nobody. The next was even worse. Sánchez leapt above Ward and the ball trickled in off Ndidi. The referee disallowed the goal for a supposed foul on Ward. Spurs were incandescent. And they were right to be. VAR? Computer said no. There’s your clear and obvious, but apparently not.

Leicester deserve some credit for how they then rallied and levelled through James Maddison. From Timothy Castagne’s pull-back, Maddison — with one touch — hooked an audacious volley up and down into the corner and far beyond the reach of Lloris. From almost going 3–1 but for referee Simon Hooper, Leicester were now level. There was fight in these Foxes after all.

But not enough bite, it turned out. Ndidi was pinched of possession poorly as Bentancur and Spurs raced out the tunnel for the second half and their intense pressing game. The Uruguayan dribbled forward into Leicester’s defensive chasm, and slotted past Ward in off the post.

Antonio Conte and Tottenham are not merely dreaming of a cup run or two. They think they can challenge for the title this year. This was a test of their bottle now. Would they kill of the game or would they let Leicester scramble their way back into the game?

Lloris ensured it wasn’t the latter — hanging in the air and clawing away Patson Daka’s downward header. And then Son Heung-min ensured it was the former. Dropped due to form and with his manager saying before kick-off that it was “not important” if that made Son upset, the South Korean came off the bench to score an absolute stunner, counterattacking effectively on his own and curling into the top corner from range with devastating effect. Worth the wait to end his goal drought? Spurs seemed to think so.

Though plenty of time stood between them and the full-time whistle, Leicester already looked beaten and Rodgers forlorn.

The first had been a right-footer bent into the top right corner. So Son took the ball off Kane and curled with his left into the top left for his second. He was just showing off now. Spurs had five on 84 minutes and so nearly six on 85 as he shanked wide from a cross by the superb Bentancur. And on 86 minutes, as he slid past Ward, they did have six and substitute Son did have a hat-trick.

He looked exhausted, unmoved, simply holding up three fingers as VAR deemed him onside. He’d only played 31 minutes — but he’d been the match-winner in a match that was already well and truly won before he’d even taken to the turf.

As for Leicester… well, there’s not an awful lot left to say.