Leicester outfoxed by Son and Alli in routine Spurs win

Leicester City 0-2 Tottenham Hotspur

Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino made another brave call as they visited Leicester City tonight, leaving Harry Kane on the bench at the King Power Stadium.

The Spurs boss had been questioned recently after leaving Toby Alderweireld on the bench against Arsenal, a game they lost 4-2. Alderweireld did make the XI in this case, partnering the returning Jan Vertonghen who was back from suspension.

The home side continue to be without star man Jamie Vardy, so Kelechi Iheanacho led the line, chosen ahead of Shinji Okazaki by boss Claude Puel.

The game began with open attacking football from both sides, the clearest of chances falling to Leicester after Ben Chilwell broke forward but his cross failed to meet the awaiting Iheanacho.

The first half offered very little in terms of goalscoring opportunities, with both sides failing to produce a final ball of any quality. Demerai Gray and Moussa Sissoko both had opportunities to present easy chances for teammates but failed to produce the goods.

The game was broken up by an inability to legally tackle an opponent from both sets of players, with the referee having to dish out yellow cards to both Eric Dier and Nampalys Mendy for rash challenges. 

Spurs put all that to bed in injury time though, when Heung Min Son produced a piece of real magic to put his side in the lead. The Korean forward received the ball on the right hand corner of the box, cut in on his left before unleashing a beautiful curling effort which nestled into the far corner, giving Kasper Schmeichel no chance. Serge Aurier may be credited with an assist, but the goal was all Son’s work.

The second half started as the first did, both sides probed but failed to penetrate the defence of their opponnent, but the hour mark came and Spurs doubled their lead through Dele Alli.

The impressive Son got in the end of a Lucas Moura through ball, cut back onto his right foot, waiting for his moment to pick out the England midfielder at the back post. He finished with a diving header to take his Premier League goal tally for the season to four and his tally for Tottenham to 50 goals at just 22 years of age.

Leicester heads dropped and looked like a side who had no Plan B going into today. The bench offered very little threat on the face of it. Vardy who has scored four goals and assisted a further three in his last seven appearances against Spurs was unfit to play, blunting significantly the weaponry in Puel’s arsenal.

There was no let up for Leicester, as Pochettino introduced Harry Kane to the fray.  The England captain has 13 goals in his last 11 appearances against the Foxes and was hoping to add to that tally tonight.

Puel then introduced Rachid Ghezzal and Okazaki to inject some energy and pace into his front line, and the Japanese forward nearly got on the end of a Gray cross to get the Foxes back into the game, but failed to connect with the ball as it flashed across goal.

The final minutes passed with very little event. The fans’ most entertaining part of the final five minutes was the ball bouncing off the corner flag to stay in play, which brought a cheer around the stadium.

But Pochettino’s side weathered some pressure from the home side to see out a routine 2-0 win and get back to back wins again after a 3-1 victory over Southampton earlier in the week. Spurs climb back to third place in the table, whilst results mean Leicester remain in 9th place, just a point ahead of West Ham.

Next up for Leicester City is a trip to Selhurst Park to take on a stuttering Crystal Palace, whilst Tottenham welcome strugglers Burnley to Wembley.