Jamie Vardy scored his first goal in months and had a few choice words for Aston Villa goalkeeper Pepe Reina regarding the successful penalty kick at King Power Stadium.
“The keeper said I was going down the middle, and I was,” Vardy said. “He tried to call my bluff.”
The goal was the first of two for Vardy, who came off the bench to help Leicester City snap a four-match league winless run in a 4-0 demolition of sloppy Aston Villa on Monday.
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Leicester had 65 percent possession and pretty much bossed the Villans. The Foxes boasted a 15-4 shots edge and took nine corner kicks to Villa’s zero.
It was a complete performance, something the Foxes have failed to produce for much of 2020.
Speaking of the calendar, Vardy’s league-best 18th and 19th goals of the Premier League season were his first since Dec. 21.
“We needed to first and foremost put in a performance we knew we were capable of,” Vardy said on NBCSN after the match. “The last few weeks it hasn’t been there. ... I had gone through a little spell where I’d not score, but you need to carry on the training pitch and take it into games.”
Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers agreed with Vardy’s assessment of the match in its entirety.
“As the game went on we looked much more like how we’ve been for most of the season,” Rodgers said. “The resilience of the players and the effort was brilliant.”
The Foxes now own an eight-point advantage on fifth place. There’s a 10-point gap on sixth. The win likely will put them in the Champions League.