Thursday, 28th March 2024
To guardian.ng
Search

Spurs late show stuns Leicester

By AFP
19 January 2022   |   10:02 pm
Steven Bergwijn scored twice deep into stoppage time to rescue a vital three points for Tottenham's bid for a top-four Premier League finish with a thrilling 3-2 win at Leicester on Wednesday.

Tottenham Hotspur’s Dutch midfielder Steven Bergwijn celebrates scoring his team’s second goal during the English Premier League football match between Leicester City and Tottenham Hotspur at King Power Stadium in Leicester, central England on January 19, 2022. (Photo by Geoff Caddick / AFP)

Steven Bergwijn scored twice deep into stoppage time to rescue a vital three points for Tottenham’s bid for a top-four Premier League finish with a thrilling 3-2 win at Leicester on Wednesday.

The Foxes looked set to snatch victory against the run of play as Patson Daka and James Maddison struck either side of Harry Kane’s first-half equaliser.

However, Bergwijn, who had not scored a Premier League goal this season, came off the bench to turn the game on its head in a dramatic finale.

Instead of suffering Antonio Conte’s first league defeat since taking charge in November, victory lifts Spurs above north London rivals Arsenal into fifth and within a point of fourth-placed West Ham with three games in hand.

The match had been rescheduled at Leicester’s request after they were unable to field a side in December due to a combination of coronavirus cases and injuries.

Brendan Rodgers’ men remain severely depleted with four players away at the Africa Cup of Nations on top of a long injury list.

Midfielder Hamza Choudhury was forced into a makeshift centre-back role in a back three and it showed as Spurs should have been out of sight by half-time.

Tottenham were fresh after their derby clash against Arsenal had been called off on Sunday agianst their will.

Kane looked better for the rest, but the England captain will wonder how he did not register at least a hat-trick.

His first effort was brilliantly cleared off the line by Luke Thomas as it arrowed towards the bottom corner.

Kane then thundered the crossbar with a header form a corner and Lucas Moura forced Kasper Schmeichel to full stretch.

But completely against the run of play, Leicester went in front when Daka, deputising for the injured Jamie Vardy, got the break of the ball inside the box and slotted beyond Lloris at his near post.

The French goalkeeper made amends for any questions over the goal with a fine save from Maddison moments later.

Kane finally got his 18th goal in 17 appearances against the club where he spent a short loan spell earlier in his career on 38 minutes as he raced onto Harry Winks’ through ball, cut inside Caglar Soyuncu and rolled in off the inside of the post.

Seconds later, Kane should have scored agian when he blasted well over with just Schmeichel to beat.

Leicester posed more of a threat on the counter-attack after the break and Maddison should have done better when he fired straight at Lloris.

The midfielder thought he had the final say when he exchanged a one-two with Harvey Barnes and got the aid of a huge deflection off Japhet Tanganga to wrong-foot Lloris 14 minutes from time.

But the defensive frailties that have dogged Leicester’s season reappeared in stoppage time.

Bergwijn pounced to fire home after Matt Doherty’s effort was blocked by Soyuncu five minutes into stoppage time.

Straight from the kick-off, Youri Tielemans gave away possession cheaply and Kane played Bergwijn through once more to round Schmeichel and fire in off the post.

0 Comments