Leicester City 4-1 Tottenham: Fast start sputters against the Foxes

Tottenham Hotspur started out well against Leicester City, but then things turned upside down quickly.

Leading 1-0 after a Rodrigo Bentancur tap-in off a corner, helped by a poor clearance attempt on Leicester’s part, the game flipped.

The Foxes leveled the game with a brilliant strike from Nampalys Mendy that even the 6-foot-7 giant of Fraser Forster couldn't reach. Sure, he could have done something if he was more athletic but he’s not at that stage anymore. I’m one to believe that it was just a better strike than anything.

James Maddison grabbed the lead for Leicester shortly after they won the ball in midfield and caught a quick counter-attack with a broken-down Spurs defense. Eric Dier made a charge up the field, leaving Kelechi Ihenacho to pick up the ball and take a few dribbles before finding Maddison for an easy shot past Forster

Spurs struggled all game after the 1-0 lead, never getting changes that amounted to anything, and being beaten several times by a Leicester side that wasn’t spectacular on the night.

Ihenacho grabbed the third goal of the half in the final seconds of added time, beating Forster for a 3-1 lead into the break.

Leicester City added one more goal in the second half when Harvey Branes initially thought he had a goal on a counter-attack, breaking the right side of the Spurs defense once more. Ruled offside by the narrowest of margins, Barnes was able to get his goal in the 81st minute with an outside-the-box dribbler that beat Dier and Forster for an easy goal.

Notes:

• Pitiful display. Spurs had a chance to get back into the top four and played poorly
• Pedro Porro will wish to forget his Spurs debut, being beaten several times and gifting chance after chance for Leicester City.
• 76 goals have been scored between the two sides since Leicester City regained promotion nine years ago. The thought was an exciting game would be occurring, which quickly changed after 30 minutes.
• Rodrigo Bentancur’s injury could be the start of a downward spiral if he’s out for a long time with the injury he picked up.
• Of course, it's great to see Antonio Conte back out healthy but his stubbornness once more has cost Spurs. The attacking third wasn’t great all game long and with subs at his display, he waited until the final moments to try and get back into it.
• Three consecutive clean sheets seemed too good to be true.

Time to move on to the Champions League fixture at the San Siro with an out-of-form A.C. Milan team on Valentine’s Day. Will Spurs break our hearts on a holiday that’s tailored around love...who knows?