Where did it all go right? Not even the most fatidic of Leicester fans could have predicted this back in August. Whatever happened yesterday evening, Leicester would have been top of the Premier League with just nine games remaining.
What actually happened was as good an explanation as any of why the Foxes are where they are: five points clear of the bewildered pack. After a toe-to-toe first half, Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri’s two half-time substitutions changed the traffic to one-way.
And when the magnificent Riyad Mahrez put City ahead, Leicester pressed for more. Leicester weren’t at their very best, but they were the better side by some distance. And that is how champions are born. Moreover, other teams keep conspiring to assist them and yesterday’s rum selection of afternoon results further cemented City’s ascendency.
“A tough match against a strong solid team,” admitted Ranieri. “But we are so happy now. Five points is nothing though: I’m not dreaming about the title. I don’t dream, I just work. The Premier League is fantastic in this amazing season and nobody can say who will win the title. Anything can happen. Our target was safety, so we’re not nervous. Those who have spent a lot of money to win the title should be nervous.”
Watford can look up at Leicester, Championship escapees only two years ago, and think ‘what if?’, but they can also look down at their promotion partners Norwich and have the same thought.
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All the same, Watford were undermined in the warm-up when Uruguayan defensive strongman Miguel Britos pulled a hamstring. With Craig Cathcart also injured, full-back Nathan Ake was dragooned into central defence and the deposed Jose Holebas re-instated, but the erstwhile warehouse worker was culpable for City’s winner.
“Losing Britos and having to correct things at the last minute was not good news,” noted Watford head coach Quique Sanchez Flores. “But we had our chances today.”
As Watford struggled to cope with their late rejig and England manager Roy Hodgson looked on, Leicester seized the moment just as they have seized the season. Faster than a rabbit-chasing whippet, Jamie Vardy latched on to a delicious second-minute Christian Fuchs through ball and rounded Heurelho Gomes, only to be foiled by Ake’s block.
Moments later it could have been two when Gomes tipped Fuchs’s blockbuster aside and Ake hacked away.
Watford, though, have the resilience of a team living their own unlikely dream and with Mario Suarez finding his feet at last, they had a bustler in the Danny Drinkwater mode. When Watford meaningfully attacked after 10 minutes, Ake was there again, leaping above Wes Morgan to loop a header on to Kasper Schmeichel’s bar after Ben Watson’s free-kick.
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Rather like Leicester themselves, Watford pressed high and kept the tempo high. They were twice denied before the break: first when Danny Simpson blocked Troy Deeney’s goalbound drive and the rebound dropped gently into Schmeichel’s arms; then when Morgan weakly headed Suarez’s massive punt forwards and Schmeichel charged out of his goal to head clear. With that, Watford’s moment had passed.
Ranieri made two half-time changes, utilising Jeffrey Schlupp to stymie Allan Nyom’s overlaps and Andy King to unleash Vardy as a lone striker. As befits a manager whose every roll of the dice seems to be a double six, those changes changed the game. Inexorably, City assumed midfield hegemony and laid measured siege. Just when it seemed as though they would score, they actually did. Fuchs’s deep cross was met by a woeful Holebas header across his own penalty area. It fell to Mahrez, unmarked on the edge of the area. The £400,000 Algerian took one touch to steady himself and another to launch a lambent, unstoppable curler past Gomes. Game won.
Laudably nerveless, Leicester looked to seal the deal and pressed harder still. Soon Gomes was in action again, athletically stopping Robert Huth’s fierce downwards header, while the freewheeling Vardy lurked with menace. Watford steadied themselves and tried to press, but to little avail. A cramp-stricken Mahrez hobbled off shortly before the end, but as luck would once again have it, Leicester have next weekend off, before freefalling Newcastle United visit a fortnight tomorrow. It’s now or never.
Watford:Gomes 7, Nyom 6 (Anya 81min, 4), Prodl 6, Ake 6, Holebas 4, Amrabat 5, Suarez 7 (Abdi 64min, 5), Watson 7, Capoue 5 (Oulare 88min, 4), Deeney 6, Ighalo 5
Leicester City: Schmeichel 6, Simpson 7, Morgan 6, Huth 6, Fuchs 7, Mahrez 8 (Amartey 84min, 4), Drinkwater 7, Kante 6, Albrighton 6 (Schlupp h-t, 7), Okazaki 6 (King h-t, 7) Vardy 7
