BRENDAN RODGERS walked through a leafy Leicestershire park on Monday and was showered with praise for leading the Foxes to their first FA Cup final for 52 years.
Last night he enjoyed another stroll in the park.
Veteran striker Jamie Vardy enjoyed a picnic too as he ended his 11 game goal drought to open the scoring midway through the first half – opening the floodgates at the same time.
Vardy, 34, has unselfishly turned provider in recent weeks to set up his mate Kelechi Iheanacho to launch his incredible recent scoring spree.
Last night the pair of them were at it, taking turns to score against a dismal Baggies side who pushed the self-destruct button as their recent revival ground to a shuddering halt.
Big Sam’s boys were simply awful and Leicester cashed in to go four points clear of Chelsea to strengthen their grip on third place and a Champions’ League berth.
It was at this stage last season when the Foxes bums began to squeak louder than most and their form deserted them.
Rodgers’ inexperienced side surrendered 14 points from a possible 21 in their final seven games – plunging from third to fifth to surrender their Champions’ League slot.
The bad news for the chasing pack of Chelsea, West Ham, Spurs and Liverpool, is the Foxes look a far more streetwise, resilient bunch this time out.
They slayed Midlands rivals West Brom in a ruthless first half in which they rattled home three goals and West Brom were thankful it wasn’t more.
While Leicester look destined for the Champions’ League, Albion are heading in the opposite direction back to the Championship.
They almost shot themselves in the foot after three minutes when Conor Townsend blundered to let Iheanacho scamper clear on goal.
To Sam Johnstone’s credit he stood up to the hottest hitman in the country and forced him to delay his shot before crowding him out.
In the end the ball was sent back to James Maddison who blazed a shot over.
But Johnstone’s defiance was never going to be enough to keep these ravenous Foxes at bay and Vardy broke the deadlock midway through a one-sided first half.
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Baggies’ defence appeared to have hit the slo-mo button as Leicester carved them open.
Iheanacho fed Youri Tielemans who picked out Timothy Castagne’s surging run and the full-back squared for Vardy to send Johnstone the wrong way as he lofted the ball beyond him.
It was the Leicester legend’s 145th goal for the Foxes but his first since he scored against Liverpool in February.
It took his tally tio 15 for the season to draw level with Iheanacho in their private duel.
However Leicester’s next goalscorer has waited considerably longer than Vardy to end his barren run.
Jonny Evans last Premier League goal was scored in a 4-1 win against Aston Villa in December 2019 but he poppoed up to pile more misery on his former club.
Tielemans swerving corner was missed by Iheanacho and Wilfred Ndidi but cannoned off Matt Phillips towards the back post where Evans powered his header home.
Albion were all over the place and Maddison and Vardy both came close before Matheus Pereira bounced a corner off Kasper Schmeichel’s bar in a rare respite for the visitors.
That seemed to irritate their hosts who promptly added a third before the break.
Luke Thomas sprang Vardy who nutmegged O’Shea before picking out Iheanacho in front of goal.
O’Shea helpfully fell flat in his backside and Iheancho swept the ball high past Johnstone for his 11th goal in eight games and his 16th of the season to overtake Vardy again.
Game over… the same could be said for West Brom’s stay in the Premier League.
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
