Jamie Vardy came off the bench against fellow strugglers Leeds on Tuesday night to rescue a point in a 1-1 draw at Elland Road, his first goal for the club in 973 minutes in all competitions. The result means Leicester are a point above safety, but will drop into the bottom three if Everton beat Newcastle on Thursday. Vardy said: “We have five cup finals left. We will enjoy the point tonight then get back in and recover.” Manager Dean Smith added: “Strikers know they’re judged by goals. It’s not been the most fruitful of seasons for him, but that penalty (he won against Wolves) on Saturday and the goal tonight – he’s as important as they come.” Vardy joined Leicester from Fleetwood for £1m in 2012, a record transfer fee for a non-league team, and his 16 goals helped the Foxes to promotion from the Championship at the end of the 2013-14 campaign. Just two seasons later, Leicester achieved the unimaginable by lifting the Premier League trophy, with Vardy contributing 24 goals during the campaign. An FA Cup triumph followed in 2021 but the Foxes are now staring at the unthinkable, and relegation back to the second tier. Vardy ended his run of 20 top-flight matches without scoring with his goal against Leeds, his 135th Premier League goal which just shows his quality. James Maddison added: “Jamie Vardy was born to score goals. When I saw it was him finishing it off I felt calm. We need to take the challenges and hopefully get the end goal.” Leeds missed the opportunity to go four points clear of the relegation zone and instead stay firmly entrenched in trouble, just two points above the bottom three. They could have won it in injury time but Daniel Iversen made an acrobatic save to deny Marc Roca’s header and striker Patrick Bamford missed an even better opportunity when he put wide from a couple of yards out. Leeds collected 10 points in their first six games under Javi Gracia, who replaced the sacked Jesse Marsch, but have now lost three of their past four. Former Leeds goalkeeper Paul Robinson said on BBC Radio 5 Live: “Leeds should have three points. You can’t emphasise how big that moment was for Patrick Bamford, he looks like he’s lacking in confidence. Moments like that define your season.” It will feel like two points dropped for Leeds because it’s such a big week. They have to take four points from this week. As soon as Jamie Vardy came on, he caused Leeds all sorts of problems but Leeds are the masters of their own downfall.
Jamie Vardy has a job on his hands to save Leicester from relegation after coming off the bench against Leeds on Tuesday night to rescue a point in a 1-1 draw at Elland Road, his first goal for the club in 973 minutes in all competitions. The result means Leicester are a point above safety, but will drop into the bottom three if Everton beat Newcastle on Thursday. Vardy said: “We have five cup finals left. We will enjoy the point tonight then get back in and recover.” Manager Dean Smith added: “Strikers know they’re judged by goals. It’s not been the most fruitful of seasons for him, but that penalty (he won against Wolves) on Saturday and the goal tonight – he’s as important as they come.” Vardy joined Leicester from Fleetwood for £1m in 2012, a record transfer fee for a non-league team, and his 16 goals helped the Foxes to promotion from the Championship at the end of the 2013-14 campaign. Just two seasons later, Leicester achieved the unimaginable by lifting the Premier League trophy, with Vardy contributing 24 goals during the campaign. An FA Cup triumph followed in 2021 but the Foxes are now staring at the unthinkable, and relegation back to the second tier. Vardy ended his run of 20 top-flight matches without scoring with his goal against Leeds, his 135th Premier League goal which just shows his quality. James Maddison added: “Jamie Vardy was born to score goals. When I saw it was him finishing it off I felt calm. We need to take the challenges and hopefully get the end goal.” Leeds missed the opportunity to go four points clear of the relegation zone and instead stay firmly entrenched in trouble, just two points above the bottom three. They could have won it in injury time but Daniel Iversen made an acrobatic save to deny Marc Roca’s header and striker Patrick Bamford missed an even better opportunity when he put wide from a couple of yards out. Leeds collected 10 points in their first six games under Javi Gracia, who replaced the sacked Jesse Marsch, but have now lost three of their past four. Former Leeds goalkeeper Paul Robinson said on BBC Radio 5 Live: “Leeds should have three points. You can’t emphasise how big that moment was for Patrick Bamford, he looks like he’s lacking in confidence. Moments like that define your season.” It will feel like two points dropped for Leeds because it’s such a big week. They have to take four points from this week. As soon as Jamie Vardy came on, he caused Leeds all sorts of problems but Leeds are the masters of their own downfall. With five cup finals left, Vardy has an important job ahead of him to save Leicester from relegation as his quality and experience could be key in helping them achieve this task.