Tottenham Top Leicester 3-1 to Keep Pace in Title Race

Published on 10-Feb-2019 by srijan213

Soccer    Soccer Daily Review

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Tottenham Top Leicester 3-1 to Keep Pace in Title Race

Even though Harry Kane pronounced his rehab's ahead of schedule, Mauricio Pochettino's side managed three points over Leicester without him, but it wasn't as easy as the 3-1 result inferred.

The Foxes pushed Tottenham all the way through stoppage time, out-shooting them 20-12 with the on-target advantage at 9-5.

Still, Spurs have turned finesse defense into an art form and held on to stay within five points of the Premiership's virtual co-leaders, Manchester City and Liverpool.

 

The match started even and for the most part stayed even, with both teams pushing forward but not capitalizing on their opportunities. 

Tottenham found daylight in the 33rd minute, though, when Kieran Trippier's short corner to Christian Eriksen ended up as a perfect cross to Davinson Sánchez, who finished with a diving header:

 

That held up until the hour, when Leicester had a chance to draw even. 

James Maddison was fouled inside the area by Jan Vertonghen. Substitute Jamie Vardy stepped up, but Hugo Lloris saved it:

 

 

Three minutes after the missed penalty, Tottenham expanded their advantage through Eriksen.

The Danish midfielder unloaded a scud from the edge of the box past Kasper Schmeichel:

 

The Foxes kept plugging away, and in the 76th, Vardy made it up for the missed penalty, by tapping one home from Ricardo Pereira's cross from the right corner:

 

Emboldened, the Foxes threw themselves at Tottenham but eventually conceded too much space that led to a lethal Spurs counter-attack. 

It came in the 91st, after Spurs' defense cleared a dangerous attack. Leicester looked to keep up the pressure, but Wilfred Ndidi slipped, which allowed Heung-Min Son to drive forward from his own half, and wrap everything up from the edge of the box:

 

Now, it's a quick turnaround for Tottenham, as their midweek bout with Dortmund in a Champions League bracket match is coming up quickly.

Dudes dodged a bullet in this one. Der BVB probably won't be as forgiving.