It is a good thing for Jürgen Klopp that Liverpool keep winning, because so do their most impressive rivals. Leicester swept to their eighth league victory in a row – their best ever run in the top flight – to move back to within eight points of the league leaders. An insurmountable gap? Probably, but only a fool would completely discount this fearsome Leicester team.
Brendan Rodgers insisted he has no target in mind and is not bothered that many people still consider Manchester City to be Liverpool’s most serious challengers. “You saw after Manchester United won at Manchester City, the caption comes up [on television] about how far City are away from Liverpool,” he said. “We respect that, we just get on with our work and try to improve our performances, just keep developing. I don’t think anyone expects us to be anywhere near the top. We’ll take it game by game and try to improve in our training and see where it takes us. We’re a team that finished ninth over the last two seasons but I thought [at Villa Park] we looked like a top team.”
They sure did. Naturally, Jamie Vardy scored, the eighth game in a row in which he has done so. He struck twice to bring his tally to the season to 16 and close in on his own Premier League record of 11 consecutive matches with a goal. Kelechi Iheanacho and Jonny Evans also found the net, with Jack Grealish offering only fleeting hope to the hosts. Villa may be out of the bottom three on goal difference only, but no one else this season has beaten them as emphatically as this.
Before kick-off there was a warm ovation in tribute to Ron Saunders, the former Villa manager who died on Saturday at the age of 87. Saunders was the inspiration behind some of Villa’s greatest achievements, turning them from a second-tier side into English champions before leaving with the club on course for European coronation in 1982. Those are feats any football supporter can appreciate, though it was perhaps fitting that Leicester were the visitors here, as their rise in recent years is vaguely comparable to the one led by Saunders, so long as allowance is made for the differences in eras.
Vardy, meanwhile, is a phenomenon that everyone can celebrate. Five years ago, on the only previous occasion that Leicester won eight league matches in a row – in the Championship – he scored the decisive goal at Birmingham City. Here, in a different part of the second city, he showed his enduring deadliness by opening the scoring in the 21st minute. It was not his surest finish, as, after going around the goalkeeper, he initially miskicked. But Ezri Konsa slipped, allowing Vardy to recover and prod in the net from close range.
The chance had been created by a loss of possession in midfield by Wesley and an astute through-ball by Iheanacho. Rodgers had decided to award the Nigerian a first league start of the season after being impressed by his performance off the bench against Everton last week.
Iheanacho further justified that decision by notching Leicester’s second goal from close range in the 41st minute. Konsa may have got a touch as he tried to deflect it out of the striker’s path but the goal was fair reward for a slick move that started with Caglar Soyuncu striding out of defence before James Maddison pinged a low cross to the near post.
Things were looking ominous for Villa, who lost Tyrone Mings to a hamstring injury after the first goal and cursed an 11th-minute miss by Anwar El Ghazi, who shot against the crossbar from six yards.
Leicester, however, had threatened even before that, with Iheanacho forcing a decent save from Tom Heaton in the third minute after being slipped in by Maddison.
Maddison thrived at the tip of the midfield diamond that Rodgers chose to deploy for this game instead of his usual 4-3-3. Dennis Praet sent Vardy racing clear down the right just after the half hour. The striker tried to feed Iheanacho but Bjorn Engels, who had replaced Mings, made a key interception.
Villa were having little joy in attack, where Wesley struggled to make an impact. But so long as they have Grealish, they have a threat. He underlined that in stoppage time at the end of the first half. After Leicester for once failed to clear a corner, the ball broke to Grealish, who, from about 16 yards, swept a superb shot in off the far post.
That proved to be no more than an irritant to Leicester. They regained their two-goal lead shortly after half-time. Maddison floated in a corner and Evans guided an expert header into the net. Dean Smith complained that Evans had found space only because of a block on Ahmed Elmohamady. “VAR should be disallowing it, that’s what their role is,” Smith said. “I don’t know why it wasn’t.”
What struck most after that was Leicester’s relentlessness. They craved more goals. Vardy got one thanks to a crisp finish after another pass by Praet. Maddison, Harvey Barnes and Youri Tielemans nearly made the toll heavier, and Heaton had to make a brilliant save to foil Soyuncu. Villas fans streamed out long before the end for fear of witnessing something embarrassing. But for neutrals this Leicester team are a pleasure to watch.
