Leicester City’s three best performing players from September

Jamie Vardy

What can you say about Jamie Vardy that hasn’t already been said? Season after season, he keeps on proving pundits wrong about his age. He, much like Cavani, Ronaldo and Antonio, is not letting his age affect him one bit.

Vardy has been Leicester’s consistent threat early on in the season. In August he netted two goals in three games, his first being a stunning finish against Wolves. As Leicester’s form continued to be shaky, they needed Vardy’s goals more than ever, and my did he duly provide.

He had an effort against Man City tightly ruled out by VAR – his customary goal against the Citizens has been delayed until Boxing Day – but that didn’t rock his confidence at all. Vardy has made four appearances for the Foxes in September – three of those being starts – and has scored three goals. In all honesty, he should have scored five.

His consolation goal against Brighton was a beauty, though this was all down the quick one-touch build up. It reminded me of the type of build-up that we saw in Leicester’s 2-0 win over Crystal Palace in 2019, the goal that prompted Vardy to flap his arms and celebrate like an eagle.

At Brighton, Vardy was in the right space at the right time, but that is natural for LCFC’s star striker. He could have had another as well if not for skewing a shot just wide off of the target.

His showing at Brighton was positive, but he performance against Burnley was imperious, as Vardy scored the type of goals that Vardy loves. His first was a first-time shot at the edge of the box after latching onto Youri Tielemans’ through ball. It was an accurate low strike, and as cool and as clinical as you come to expect from the Sheffield-born attacker.

The fact that Vardy took the shot first-time, meant it caught Burnley ‘keeper Nick Pope completely out, and he was left helpless as the ball found it’s spot in the far-left hand-side corner. His second goal though, wow.

Another through ball in the second half, and Vardy pounced. Playing off of the defence, Vardy raced onto the ball and took a lovely touch to take the ball round the oncoming Nick Pope. The angle that this left him with was tight, but that doesn’t stop Leicester’s No. 9. With just the right amount of power and pace, Vardy left the Burnley defence stretching every sinew in their legs to stop the shot from going in, but their efforts were void: Vardy had his brace.

That goal should have been his hat-trick, as Vards had missed a clear header in the first half, but alas he had to settle with just two on Saturday, a good way to cancel out his earlier own goal.

What next for Vardy? Vardy is doing all he can at the front of the pitch to push Leicester success and better form, it is only the players behind him that are letting his efforts down. But Vardy is an old and wise head in this relatively young squad, and he needs to show an example of leadership and help his teammates. In this form, Vardy could well be onto another 20+ goal season. Crystal Palace fans certainly won’t be looking forward to facing him on Sunday.