Leicester 4-1 Tottenham: Player ratings as Foxes embarrass error-strewn Spurs
Leicester produced a vibrant performance to dominate a rubbish Tottenham side and run out convincing 4-1 winners at the King Power Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Antonio Conte was back on the touchline for the visitors and saw his side go ahead in fortuitous fashion when a clearance hit Rodrigo Bentancur and went in, but quick-fire strikes from Nampalys Mendy and James Maddison had the Foxes 2-1 up midway through the first half.
Kelechi Iheanacho capitalised on some more hesitant Spurs defending as he toyed with Eric Dier before beating Fraser Forster. Harvey Barnes rattled in a fourth having had a strike disallowed moments earlier to take Leicester up to 13th.
Victor Kristiansen managed to shovel the ball over his own bar on the line to prevent Tottenham going ahead early on, but the visitors did end up striking first by capitalising on Leicester's poor set piece defending.
Ivan Perisic's corner came through to Kristiansen, whose clearance hit the shin of Bentancur and ricocheted in from close range. A long VAR check on offside took place before the goal was eventually confirmed.
That strike was met with renewed vigour by Leicester, who turned the game on its head with two goals in three minutes.
Maddison's corner was cleared only as far as Mendy, whose half-volley seared past Forster at the near post for his first ever Leicester goal with over 100 appearances to his name.
Brendan Rodgers' side took the lead mere moments after drawing level by exposing an out of shape Spurs defence. Wout Faes' challenge saw the ball break straight to Iheanacho, who drew attention before squaring for Maddison to finish first time.
Having been gifted a lead, Spurs seemed inclined to hand over opportunities to their hosts even more graciously as Iheanacho ghosted into the box and fired towards the far corner, drawing a one-handed save from falling tree Forster.
A bizarre piece of play almost saw Timothy Castagne score at the wrong end, tip-toeing around Danny Ward before skewing behind to give away a corner.
However, the visitors' appalling defending allowed the Foxes to steam into a 3-1 lead on the stroke of half time. Eric Dier allowed Iheanacho to drift infield before curling into the far corner from the edge of the box.
Spurs didn't improve after the break, failing to create any genuine opportunities to reduce the deficit. They nearly went 4-1 down instead, though Barnes was adjudged offside by the barest of margins.
That mattered little, however, as Barnes soon found space on the edge of the area to pick his spot in the far corner, completing a fine afternoon's work over a miserable Tottenham side who were lucky to get on the scoresheet not even a week after their fine victory over Manchester City.
Leicester player ratings (4-2-3-1)
GK: Danny Ward - 6/10 - Nervy on set pieces as is tradition at Leicester but had few saves to make.
RB: Timothy Castagne - 6/10 - Nearly gave away an own goal with some terrible miscommunication with Ward. Settled down and enjoyed some width.
CB: Harry Souttar - 8/10 - Pinged the ball over the top for Iheanacho to score Leicester's third. Didn't have a tough time with Tottenham's attackeres'
CB: Wout Faes - 7/10 - Did get booked but pressed high up the pitch to help stop Spurs gaining any attacking momentum.
LB: Victor Kristiansen - 8/10 - Really strong performance. Treated Porro harshly and got into some dangerous areas.
CM: Nampalys Mendy - 8/10 - Snapped into challenges, helping Leicester remain in control. Brilliant half-volley following a corner sparked the comeback.
CM: Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall - 7/10 - Good performance, gliding away from Tottenham's midfielders and launching good balls over the top.
RW: Tete - 6/10 - One or two chances in space but the quietest of Leicester's attackers.
AM: James Maddison - 8/10 - Helped the hosts spring into action quickly when they won possession. Put Leicester ahead with a smart finish.
LW: Harvey Barnes - 8/10 - Enjoyed running at Porro and created dangerous chances by driving into the box.
ST: Kelechi Iheanacho - 9/10 - Kept his cool to set up Maddison and then isolated Dier before making it 3-1 with a precise finish.
Substitutes
Wilfred Ndidi (69' for Mendy) - 7/10 - Kept Leicester dominant in midfield after his arrival.
Jamie Vardy (77' for Iheanacho) - 6/10
Dennis Praet (77' for Tete) - 6/10
Ricardo Pereira (88' for Maddison) - N/A
Manager
Brendan Rodgers - 8/10 - Had Leicester high up the pitch for the majority of the contest and isolated Tottenham's defenders against his quick attackers. Gifted some goals by the visitors but got everything spot on.
Tottenham player ratings (3-4-3)
GK: Fraser Forster - 4/10 - Into the team as Hugo Lloris' injury replacement. Couldn't get his big frame down quick enough for a few of the goals.
CB: Japhet Tanganga - 2/10 - Leicester consistently exploited Tottenham's right hand side, with Tanganga provided no safety net behind Porro. Let Iheanacho walk straight through him for the fourth.
CB: Eric Dier - 1/10 - Hesitated in the space between defence and midfield, allowing Leicester too many shooting opportunities. Booked for a clattering challenge in the second half.
CB: Ben Davies - 3/10 - Brought the ball out calmly on occasion but was part of a pretty dysfunctional Spurs defence.
RWB: Pedro Porro - 2/10 - Handed his Spurs debut at the expense of Emerson Royal. Leicester got in behind the Spaniard time and time again.
CM: Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg - 4/10 - Lost the midfield battle to Mendy pretty convincingly.
CM: Rodrigo Bentancur - 6/10 - Pretty fortunate to open the scoring in the first half. Had to come off in the second half with a knock, leaving Spurs light in midfield ahead of their trip to Milan next week.
LWB: Ivan Perisic - 3/10 - Had no final product in the final third, both when played in by Kane and in crossing opportunities.
RW: Dejan Kulusevski - 3/10 - Touch was off throughout the afternoon. One chance to shoot from a Porro pass but his first touch was too heavy.
ST: Harry Kane - 4/10 - Couple of nice passes early on but so quiet for the remainder of the contest.
LW: Son Heung-min - 3/10 - Provided next to no attacking impetus.
Substitutes
Pape Matar Sarr (65' for Bentancur) - 5/10 - Couldn't help Spurs stop the waves of attacks Leicester summoned.
Emerson Royal (75' for Porro) - 5/10
Richarlison (75' for Perisic) - 5/10
Davinson Sanchez (75' for Tanganga) - 5/10
Arnaut Danjuma (79' for Kulusevski) - 5/10
Manager
Antonio Conte - 3/10 - Was back on the touchline after his recent surgery. Squad depth in some areas was brutally exposed and a number of individuals returned awful performances. A bad return and Conte had few answers.