Today was agreeably free of drama for the league leaders, who never looked back after Riyad Mahrez’s opener ten minutes in. Leonardo Ulloa stood in for Jamie Vardy superbly, notching two goals to secure victory before Marc Albrighton got the fourth.
What it means is that Leicester need five points from their final three games – Manchester United (A), Everton (H), Chelsea (A) – to become the most unlikely champions in English football history.
Tottenham are now officially their only challengers; their remaining fixture are West Brom (H), Chelsea (A), Southampton (H), Newcastle (A). They will, in all likelihood, need to win them all.
I’ll leave the last word to Sean Boiling: “No Vardy. Some party.” Thanks for joining me, and for all your emails. Sorry I couldn’t use more. Goodbye!
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Full time: Leicester City 4-0 Swansea City
Two goals for Leo Ulloa, one for Riyad Mahrez, one for Marc Albrighton. Leicester lead Spurs by eight points. Spurs have 12 to play for. Almost there...
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92 mins: The tireless André Ayew fires a shot wide of Schmeichel’s far post. That’ll do.
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So Scarlett Johansson has been cast in some anime-related film. Totally knew that. Thank you for your marvellous suggestions; I’ll close with this.
89 mins: Albrighton flicks the ball downfield to start a final attack, and King lofts the ball onto Mahrez, who has the exposed Fabianski racing out to punch clear. There will be three added minutes.
87 mins: “Are you watching, Tottenham?” ask the King Power crowd, at a volume that shakes the cameras. I would imagine they are, and they’ll be less than delighted with Swansea’s defending today.
Demarai Gray launched a solo run down the right, shimmied his way into the box, and found Andy King, whose header on goal was dreadful, finding its way back to Gray. The winger had a go from a tight angle, Fabianski saved, but Albrighton was on hand to turn the ball in!
GOAL! Leicester 4-0 Swansea (Albrighton)
All three substitutes combine, Marc Albrighton finishes it off, and things have gone entirely to plan for the league leaders.
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83 mins: Jeffrey Schlupp is off after a fine afternoon’s work, replaced by Mark Albrighton.
More Vardy: The Movie – Taron Egerton and Jamie Bell are both in line for the lead role, James Seo (weirdly) suggests Scarlett Johansson to play Shinji Okazaki, and Kristof from Berlin offers Jon Moss (the Culture Club drummer) as Jon Moss (the referee). Then there’s this:
80 minutes: King lets me down, racing onto a Mahrez pass but finding only Fabianski’s left arm with a low shot – then sending the rebound over the bar.
78 minutes: It doesn’t look like anything major, but Ulloa does go off, replaced by Andy King, who likes a goal against Swansea.
77 minutes: Ayew stands his ground in the penalty area, and finds Paloschi with a cross – but rather than tap it in, the forward tries to control it and the chance has gone. Swansea win a corner, which Ayew nods into the side netting at the far post.
76 minutes: Ulloa is receiving treatment, having headed for the touchline holding his back. The trusty Sky cameras cut straight to Jamie Vardy.
74 mins: Sigurdsson, who has fought gamely in the face of certain defeat, is replaced by Ki. Over at Wembley, Palace lead 2-1 with minutes remaining.
72 mins: Swansea are penalised for taking a free kick too quickly. I suppose their enthusiasm at this stage should be admired.
70 mins: Back to the game, and Drinkwater almost squeezes his shot through a forest of legs, before Williams is booked for a clumsy, high kicking challenge on the Leicester man. Demarai Gray is coming on for another Premier League cameo, replacing Okazaki.
Vardy: The Movie
Your suggestions so far:
Jamie Vardy: Christian Bale
Riyad Mahrez: Kayvan Novak
Claudio Ranieri: Ian McKellen
Young Claudio Ranieri: Eddie Redmayne
Leo Ulloa: Adam Driver
Nigel Pearson: Vinnie Jones
Man in Casino: Ken Watanabe
Hat tips to: Justin Kavanagh, Kevin Smith, Mark Turner, Peter Dodd, Victor Lauze and Matt Dony.
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67 mins: Leicester enjoying themselves now, with a rare cushion to see them home. Okazaki twists and turns in the area, but fires over from a presentable position.
65 mins: There’s more and more room in the Swansea half for Mahrez, but another jinking run from the Algerian is cut short. Leicester keep the ball, and work it to Schlupp, who drills a fine low shot from the edge of the area. Fabianski gets down smartly to save.
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62 mins: A first booking, as Mahrez flicks the ball past Fernandez, who brings the midfielder crashing down just outside the box. Free kick in a dangerous spot, and Fuchs’ shot whistles wide of the far post.
After Swansea faff around in Leicester’s half for an age, Kasper Schmeichel collects a cross and launches the ball down the left. Jeffrey Schlupp does brilliantly to flick it on, then chase his own header down the wing, breaking into the box with Ulloa in space. He fluffs the first cross, but toe-pokes the ball past Fabianski, and Ulloa gets his studs to it at the far post.
GOAL! Leicester 3-0 Swansea (Ulloa)
Leo Ulloa has his second goal, and this one is over.
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55 mins: Fuchs keeps Schmeichel on his toes with a bouncing back pass that has to be headed clear.
On Alex Manninger, a hat tip to Dr Julian Fraser, who adds that his Leicester-esque six clean sheets in seven games prompted the club to fetch him a medal. Manninger is 38 now, and still playing for Augsburg in the Bundesliga.
54 mins: “We are staying up!” cry the Leicester fans. Nothing so concise or coherent on the pitch in the last few minutes.
Jamie Vardy: The Movie update – Mark Turner suggests Woody Allen to play Gary Lineker (!) and adds: “if they don’t cast Ian McKellen as Ranieri I’m not watching it.”
51 mins: Montero does his thing, wriggling free in the Leicester area, but his drag back to Sigurdsson is cut out by Drinkwater.
50 mins: Leicester enjoy a spell in the Swansea half, with Mahrez lofting a pass over Rangel towards Ulloa, who sadly lacks Vardy’s tenacious talents.
48 mins: Rangel hooks a deep cross into the area, and Ayew finds himself free of both central defender, but his header in the direction of Paloschi bounces into Schmeichel’s grasp.
46 mins: Swansea bring on an actual striker, then, with Paloschi ahead of Montero, Sigurdsson and Ayew.
“Manninger did receive a winners medal” says Mick McMenemie. “He didn’t technically play enough games but Arsenal asked for special dispensation and he got one”. Prompt, and thorough.
1-1 at Wembley; Tom Davies has the latest.
Peep!
Two attacking changes for Swansea: Alberto Paloschi is on for Leroy Fer, and Jefferson Montero is on for Wayne Routledge.
The second half is coming up shortly. Leicester should try to put their foot down here; Swansea need two goals to spoil the party. In the likely event that neither of those things happen, I’d like your casting suggestions for Jamie Vardy: The Movie.
Half-time thoughts
“Jamie who?” asks A. Williams (not that one).
“Did you know that Christian Fuchs will become the first Austrian to win a Premier League medal, if Leicester clinch the title this season? I hope the Foxes win it… for Fuchs’ sake.”
Thanks, Justin Kavanagh. Here’s a question I didn’t expect to ask – did Alex Manninger get a winners’ medal in 1998?
Half time: Leicester City 2-0 Swansea City
Leicester will have zero complaints with that, as Riyad Mahrez pounced on an Ashley Williams mistake, before Leo Ulloa made his mark, nodding in a Danny Drinkwater cross. Pressure? What pressure?
45 mins: A full minute of haphazard passing from Leicester leads to a break down the right for Swansea, but Huth is on hand again to turn a hopeful cross behind.
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43 mins: Ulloa neatly takes down a long ball, but Fer is equally nimble to nick the ball away. The striker tumbles over, but Clattenburg isn’t buying that.
41 mins: Sigurdsson instead goes straight for goal, and Kasper Schmeichel, perhaps unsighted, tips it around the post. The corner is Leicestered away from danger.
40 mins: Taylor’s deep cross is returned with interest by Robert Huth’s forehead, but a loose Mahrez pass has Drinkwater stretching, and he upends André Ayew. Another chance for Sigurdsson to find a killer delivery...
39 mins: Williams gives away a free kick to end a lukewarm spell of possession. From a trademark surge forward, Schlupp goes over on the edge of box, but is waved to his feet flamboyantly by Clatts.
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37 mins: Schlupp, a dynamic presence down the left so far, skips past a couple of challenges, but his attempted low cross to Drinkwater is deflected into Fabianski’s gloves.
35 mins: Taylor is put under pressure from Mahrez, but stops greeting for long enough to play a tidy back pass to Fabianski.
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“In the photo, who is that Swansea player on the left appearing to be crying as Mahrez peels away after scoring his goal?” asks Mark Judd (I think it’s Neil Taylor). “Seems a bit premature...”
32 mins: Close from Swansea! Huth fouls Jack Cork clumsily outside the area, and Sigurdsson’s ball in again finds Fernandez, onside this time – but his header zips a foot over the bar.
30 mins: That’s another big goal from Leo Ulloa. Jamie Vardy hasn’t been missed, thus far. The noise from the Leicester fans...
GOAL! Leicester 2-0 Swansea (Ulloa)
The corner flashes across the box, before Swansea concede a cheap free kick out on the left. Drinkwater whips in a terrific cross, and Leo Ulloa times his run to nod beyond Fabianski!
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27 mins: More Mahrez, who is running the show going forward – he slides a pass along the floor to Okazaki, whose shot is deflected behind. Leicester corner...
25 mins: Now Leicester pile forward via Schlupp, and the ball finds its way to Mahrez in the area. His gander up, he sells Taylor a half-dozen dummies to earn a corner. It’s skewed by Drinkwater into the path of Fuchs, but the full-back’s snap shot is held by Fabianski at his near post.
24 mins: Swansea passing it around prettily, Leicester thwacking it away when it gets near their penalty area.
22 mins: Hints of handball when Mahrez brought down that Williams ‘clearance’. Not this again! It appeared to hit his hip, and Williams didn’t appeal.
20 mins: Drinkwater’s radar is off again, failing to find Schlupp on the left. From the throw, Swansea give it away cheaply and Ulloa launches a cross to Okazaki at the far post. The wrong way round, surely, and Okazaki is penalised for a push.
19 mins: From a quick free kick, Routledge fails to take advantage of space on the left, and Leicester break – even today, they’re sticking to their counter-attacking ways – but Drinkwater’s pass to Mahrez is in possession of too much swazz.
17 mins: Sigurdsson at the centre of Swansea’s attacking play, kick-starting a passing move that keeps Leicester pinned in their own half.
“Turns out they might not need need Vardy after all” says Matt Dony. Vardy is here, peering out of an executive box, a gatecrasher at his own party.
15 mins: Leicester would like to put this one to bed, with Kanté charging towards the area, but he’s dispossessed and Swansea break, Routledge finding Sigurdsson on the right of the area – but his shot is closed down for a corner, which is dealt with.
14 mins: Swansea win a free kick, which Sigurdsson angles in invitingly. Fernandez nods it over, but he’s half a yard offside. Leicester have scored with their only chance, which was presented to them.
12 mins: “Are you watching, Tottenham?” bellow the Leicester faithful. Or it might be Nottingham. Either way, Swansea have a corner which Morgan deals with in his usual style.
GOAL! Leicester City 1-0 Swansea City (Mahrez)
It’s clearly still on Williams’ mind, as he passes straight at Mahrez, who brings it down, strides in on goal, and slots the ball inside the near post! A big mistake from Williams, a huge goal for Leicester.
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9 mins: A long ball from Morgan is dealt with by Ashley Williams, who engaged in prolonged afters with Riyad Mahrez after the reverse fixture.
7 mins: Mahrez slips a pass to Mahrez, who slaloms past a couple of challenges – but Swansea hold firm on the edge of their own area.
“Yes, yes. ‘Unlikely title run’ this, ‘Plucky underdogs’ that” snorts Matt Dony. “But the important part of the narrative – how’s Clattenburg’s hair looking?”
It’s spectacular, as always.
5 mins: The crowd are still making a ruckus, but it’s been an understandably cagey start. Both Okazaki and Mahrez are darting into central areas from their alloted starting points, to little avail so far.
3 mins: Swansea still on the front foot, with Wes Morgan getting a firm head to a long ball in Routledge’s direction.
Here’s Michael Cosgrove:
After weeks of adamantly refusing to discuss the possibility of winning the PL, Ranieri has finally piped up to say about it that “Mauricio, you can wait. Wait one more year.” And I said to myself ‘Let’s hope you haven’t just given yourself the kiss of death Claudio...’
Why so gloomy, everyone? Stick some Kasabian on!
1 min: Swansea stroll forward to the sound of 30,000 plastic clappers, with a decent left-wing cross from Routledge evading Ayew, who is operating on the right.
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Peep!
Mark Clattenburg gets us under way.
Crystal Palace lead at Wembley. You can follow that one with Tom Davies.
Claudio speaks!
On Jeffrey Schlupp’s inclusion: “I wanted to push a little more on the left, and give Albrighton some rest. Jeff is very fast, can cross and gives us width.” (I’m paraphrasing slightly)
On Jamie Vardy’s absence: “Without Vardy, we have to do something different. Vardy is our strength up front... but [Okazaki and Ulloa] are both hard workers.”
On today’s game: “Francesco Guidolin is a tactical man, and it will be a tactical game.”
It’s finished Sunderland 0-0 Arsenal at the Stadium of Light, so a point today for Leicester will guarantee a top-two finish. I’m sure they’ll be delighted with that. It’s also decent news for Swansea, nine points clear of Sunderland in 17th. The Swans have won at the Emirates this season with a similar tactical setup, and caused considerable difficulties at the Etihad, White Hart Lane and Old Trafford – and have one of the league’s in-form players in Gylfi Sigurdsson, who is set to pull the strings in a front three with Andre Ayew and Wayne Routledge.
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A nice bit of ‘content’ from Leicester’s official account, dropped 20 minutes before kick-off. That 5-2 loss to Arsenal seems really weird now.
A big day for Leonardo Ulloa, with the tall awkward striker offering a very different outlet to Vardy. He’s been backed by his former Brighton boss Gus Poyet, who thinks the Argentinian has the requisite cojones. Ulloa has only scored four goals all season, but the last two – a late winner against Norwich, and the penalty to snatch a point last week – have backed up Poyet’s claims. By the way, in this shoestring squad, £7.5m man Ulloa remains Leicester’s second most expensive signing. The record holder, Andrej Kramaric, has just scored for Hoffenheim.
History
These two teams first met in an FA Cup qualifier in 1914, when they were known as Swansea Town and Leicester Fosse – Town won 1-0. That’s about as historical as it gets for these two; since Swansea joined Leicester in becoming City in 1969, the teams have played just 12 competitive matches, with today’s clash just their fourth top-flight game in history. Leicester lead that particular head-to-head, played over the last two seasons, by two games to one, and cruised to a 3-0 win at the Liberty Stadium in December, thanks to a Riyad Mahrez hat-trick.
Mark has something to say about that ‘Fearless Champions’ scarf:
“Well they might be, but it’s just a wee bit premature to run up scarves proclaiming it. Fergie used to remind us of a certain horse named Devon Loch. Anything can happen and you can’t write Spurs off yet. Not when they’re in superb form and Leicester have lost Vardy.”
The vendors outside the King Power also have apparel proclaiming Leicester as ‘the people’s champions’. Thoughts welcome.
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The teams
Claudio Ranieri sticks with two strikers, with ice-cold penalty converter Leo Ulloa in for the suspended Vardy. There’s one other change, with Jeffrey Schlupp – who won the penalty – replacing Marc Albrighton. Francesco Guidolin makes two changes from the loss at Newcastle, with Leon Britton and Wayne Routledge replacing Jefferson Montero and Alberto Paloschi.
Leicester: Schmeichel; Simpson, Morgan, Huth, Fuchs; Mahrez,
Kanté, Drinkwater, Schlupp; Ulloa, Okazaki.
Subs: King, Albrighton, Amartey, Gray, Wasilewski, Chilwell, Schwarzer.
Swansea: Fabianski; Rangel, Fernández, Williams, Taylor;
Britton, Cork, Fer; Sigurdsson, Ayew, Routledge.
Subs: Amat, Ki, Paloschi, Nordfeldt, Montero, Naughton, Barrow.
Referee: Mark Clattenburg
Preamble
Hello. At 2.40pm last week, Leicester were on their way to a sixth straight victory, by an aggregate scoreline of 7-0, and another 10-point Premier League lead. Then Jamie Vardy tried to buy some gloss for that scoreline, and instead became a furious opening guest on the Jonathan Moss show. In the process, Leicester’s flight to glory hit a spot of turbulence.
Whether or not you think Moss got his four fateful decisions right (my personal view: yes, no, no, yes-and-no) they undoubtedly exposed a couple of buried secrets. Firstly, a significant, slow-brewed backlash against the Leicester fairytale, from fans who are either bored silly by potential 5000-1 winners, or believe that title winners must be paragons of virtue.
We have also learned that pillars of sand lurk beneath those sturdy foundations; Leicester, would you believe, are not going to walk the Premier League. Teams far better prepared for this have suffered a collective cranial explosion under the white heat of a title assault. When Aaron Cresswell’s superb shot found the back of the net, Claudio Ranieri and his charges did not look remotely content with having tied up a Champions League play-off place.
Ranieri has at least finally admitted as much – attempting to clean the slate by confirming that Leicester are in it to win it, producing a raft of encouraging headlines rather than a bewildering ostrich allegory. The Italian will need to show equally vulpine cunning in finding an able replacement for Vardy, the points-stealing horse that he would give the King Power for today.
Win today and Spurs will have eight points to make up, with only 12 to play for. Lose or draw, and the gap could be down to less than one Spurs win by Monday night. Beating a safe Swansea team should not be an issue; mastering the occasion, the relentless scrutiny, and their own, newly visible vulnerabilities is a different matter.
Never send to know for whom the bell tolls; Claudio, it tolls for thee. Dilly ding, dilly dong! Kick-off is at 4.15pm; team news to follow.
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