After Jamie Vardy stunned Tottenham by scoring an unlikely equaliser approaching the hour, he saluted the Leicester supporters, puffed out his chest and blew kisses to the crowd. But his animated exchange with the Spurs fans in a pocket of the stadium upon leaving the field with 11 minutes of normal time to play upstaged his celebration.
As Vardy was roundly jeered he pointed to the Premier League badge on the forearm of his blue Leicester shirt. Guglielmo Vicario went berserk as he forced a late corner after Lucas Bergvall cheaply surrendered possession. Ange Postecoglou, hands in pockets, must have wondered how things unravelled for his side after Pedro Porro’s opener and his mind will also have been occupied with Rodrigo Bentancur, who was carried off on a stretcher after five minutes of on-field treatment. For Steve Cooper, this was a deeply heartening first competitive match in charge of Leicester.
When Spurs took the lead in the 29th minute the only surprise was the goalscorer, with the right-back Porro wheeling away after glancing in James Maddison’s delightful cross. Maddison, facing his former club for the first time since his £40m move to Spurs last summer, started the move on halfway, pushing a pass into Son Heung-min with the outside of his boot. Maddison continued his run forward and waited for the return from Son. From there, with a single swish of the right foot, Maddison put in a wicked cross and an alert Porro rippled the net.
At that point Leicester had to be grateful they were not further behind; Spurs had more than 70% possession, had made twice as many passes and the shot count was seven to nil. Wilfred Ndidi made an acrobatic goalline clearance after Bentancur flicked on Maddison’s corner at the front post and the Spurs debutant Dominic Solanke sent a header straight at Mads Hermansen. Maddison later tried to locate Solanke after Spurs flipped the ball from front to back, via Bentancur and Pape Sarr, but the Leicester centre-back Wout Faes did enough.
Spurs went close to doubling their advantage four minutes after scoring. Maddison flighted a free-kick towards the back post where an unmarked Brennan Johnson volleyed narrowly wide. The £65m arrival of Solanke, who scored 19 league goals for Bournemouth last season and wore the same number on his shirt, allowed Son to occupy his favoured left flank, while Postecoglou preferred Johnson to Dejan Kulusevski on the right. Another new face, Archie Gray, the 18-year-old signed from Leeds, was on the bench. Yves Bissouma was absent altogether after Spurs decided to punish him for filming himself inhaling laughing gas with a one-match suspension.
It would be pushing it to say Leicester had to feed off scraps. The on-loan Facundo Buonanotte was their brightest spark in a first half in which they were thoroughly overwhelmed and outplayed. The smile on Bobby Decordova-Reid’s face after a wayward attempt at lobbing Vicario 10 minutes before the half-time whistle said everything. Aside from Jamie Vardy racing on to an early through ball with 50 seconds on the clock, only for Porro to race across and extinguish the danger, there was little by way of excitement for the hosts.
Before kick-off there was a rousing minute’s applause for the former Leicester assistant and manager Craig Shakespeare, who died this month aged 60. Maddison and Vardy laid wreaths pitchside, the players wore black armbands. Vardy, who captained Leicester, was a surprise inclusion given Cooper had suggested the 37-year-old would be unavailable. Buonanotte nutmegged Sarr on halfway and clipped a neat pass towards Decordova-Reid after twirling clear at a throw-in, but these were footnotes. Spurs bossed the game.
Or at least they did until the 57th minute when something unforeseen happened: Leicester mustered their first shot on target and only their second of the match, the other being Decordova-Reid’s Hollywood attempt. Victor Kristiansen, who spent last season on loan at Bologna, sent a cross zooming across the box and Abdul Fatawu collected the ball on the opposite flank. Fatawu spied Vardy, lurking behind Cristian Romero, and the striker nodded in unmarked. To the amazement of just about everyone inside the ground, Leicester were level.
A couple of minutes earlier Solanke stung the palms of Hermansen. Spurs had been enjoying themselves, Maddison toying with his former team, but suddenly they were susceptible. Maddison felled Buonanotte and Bentancur was booked when crudely halting a Leicester counteract after Maddison was guilty of overplaying on the edge of the Leicester box. Ndidi flashed a shot against the side netting. Buonanotte threaded Vardy through one on one with Vicario in the 70th minute but he could not beat the Spurs goalkeeper. Vardy booted thin air in frustration. Leicester probably should have taken the lead.
Spurs were readying a triple change before Bentancur went down in the box. Both sets of players looked distressed but after five minutes of treatment the Uruguay midfielder departed the pitch on a stretcher. Gray and Bergvall entered for their debuts, while Kulusevski replaced Maddison, who applauded all four sides of the stadium. It was mainly cheers as opposed to jeers. It is fair say to Vardy will not get the same reception at Tottenham in January.