LEICESTER, England (Reuters) -Tottenham Hotspur’s hopes of securing a Premier League top-four finish suffered another blow as they were thrashed 4-1 at rampant Leicester City despite taking the lead on Saturday.
Goals from Nampalys Mendy, James Maddison, Kelechi Iheanacho and Harvey Barnes, after Rodrigo Bentancur had put Spurs ahead, gave Leicester a third straight victory in all competitions.
Tottenham came to the King Power Stadium looking to build on their win over champions Manchester City last weekend with a fourth successive victory in all competitions and carved out an early advantage through Bentancur’s close-range finish.
The hosts quickly turned the match on its head, however, with Mendy hammering home an equaliser in the 23rd minute before Maddison’s second goal in as many games completed the turnaround two minutes later to stun Spurs.
Nigerian striker Iheanacho added a third in first-half stoppage time to extend Leicester’s lead, with the timing of that strike seemingly killing off Tottenham’s hopes of getting anything from the contest.
The visitors offered very little in attack after the break, with Barnes adding a fine fourth nine minutes from time as Leicester moved up to 13th on 24 points from 22 games
Spurs remain fifth with 39 points from 23 matches.
“I think today something changed after we scored,” said Tottenham assistant coach Cristian Stellini, taking media duties from manager Antonio Conte who was back after surgery.
“We turned off and in this league you can’t turn off. You have to be consistent in all parts of the game. We struggled a lot after the first goal. We’re disappointed for that.
“It’s good for everyone to have Antonio back.”
GOOD START
With Conte in the dugout after missing last Sunday’s visit of Manchester City following a gallbladder operation, the Italian was have been pleased with his team’s start.
Back-to-back league wins had kept Spurs in touch with the top four, with Bentancur’s finish from a corner after 14 minutes giving them hope of climbing into fourth spot.
But Mendy’s bolt from the blue, his first goal for Leicester, restored parity before a defensive error let in Iheanacho, who squared for Maddison to slot home.
Leicester’s third was aided by more slack Spurs defending as Eric Dier stood off Iheanacho, allowing the Nigerian to pick his spot past goalkeeper Fraser Forster, standing in for injured captain Hugo Lloris.
Harvey Barnes thought he had added a third in the 70th minute but saw his slotted finish, after another Spurs defensive error, ruled out for offside following a VAR review.
The winger was not to be denied, however, as he finished well late on to cap a miserable afternoon for the visitors.
“It was a brilliant performance against Tottenham with the front threat that they have,” Leicester coach Brendan Rodgers said.
“Strong, competitive, really fluid when we had the ball and so many great attacking moments. A great day all round, the supporters really encouraged the team.”
(Reporting by Peter Hall, editing by Pritha Sarkar and Ken Ferris)
