Leicester City and Jamie Vardy’s remarkable run continued on Sunday with a 4-1 away victory over Aston Villa. Vardy scored a brace to take his total to 16 goals in 16 games and to extend his goalscoring streak to eight matches.
The last player to score in eight consecutive Premier League games was Vardy himself during Leicester’s title-winning 2015-16 campaign — the English striker would set the record that season by notching in 11-straight. Vardy would finish that campaign with 24 goals in 38 games, and it’s entirely probable that he’ll post a better return this season despite the fact that he’ll turn 33 in January.
And Vardy’s own success is mirrored throughout the side: At this point of the 2015-16 campaign, Leicester City sat in first-place with 35 points from 16 matches. The Foxes are even better this season — they’ve got 38 points from 16 games.
The difference, of course, is that Liverpool is gathering points at an unprecedented clip and has built an eight-point lead at the top of the table (the two sides meet on Dec. 26 at the King Power Stadium). Regardless, it’s worth celebrating a Leicester side that looks set for a return to Champions League football next year.
Today’s match showcased how devastating this Brendan Rodgers side is, and that play was epitomized in the two goals that Vardy scored.
The first was the game’s opener in the 20th minute, and it began with a brutal nutmeg and assist from Kelechi Iheanacho.
8 straight games Jamie Vardy take a bow pic.twitter.com/YleNBDQMSh
— NBC Sports Soccer (@NBCSportsSoccer) December 8, 2019
Vardy’s second came in the 75th minute with Villa chasing the game down 3-1. There’s a lot of invention in Leicester’s lineup with the likes of Iheanacho, James Maddison and Youri Tielemans providing the craft, but the Foxes can still play the sort of deadly counterattacking football that defined their title winning season.
Dennis Praet provided the simple release and Vardy raced onto it before finishing beyond Tom Heaton.
Jamie Vardy is simply amazing pic.twitter.com/yRXO7QUOGW
— NBC Sports Soccer (@NBCSportsSoccer) December 8, 2019
Leicester plays 19th-place Norwich City next Saturday but then things get serious: the club plays away to Manchester City on Dec. 21 before hosting Liverpool on Dec. 26.
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