Nathan Dyer scored a brave 89th-minute winner as Leicester City stormed back from 2-0 down to beat Aston Villa 3-2 and claim second place in the Premier League on Sunday.
Villa looked set to inflict a first defeat of the campaign on Claudio Ranieri’s men after stylish first-time finishes either side of halftime by Jack Grealish and Carles Gil put them in control at the King Power Stadium, but Ritchie de Laet halved the deficit in the 72nd minute with a flick from a Riyad Mahrez corner that the Goal Decision System showed had crossed the line, before Jamie Vardy turned in Danny Drinkwater’s low cross for the equalizer 10 minutes later.
With Villa hanging on, Mahrez floated a cross into the penalty area and Dyer, a halftime replacement for Shinji Okazaki, showed huge courage to beat outrushing goalkeeper Brad Guzan to the ball and head home.
Photo: Reuters
“It’s fantastic. We showed spirit and good character,” Leicester manager Ranieri said. “After 2-0, I watched my players and they believed everything was possible. I told the players we have 11 points and we still need 29. I don’t know when to achieve these points, but as soon as possible. At the moment we want to think only about the safety of the team.”
The result preserved Leicester’s unbeaten record and left them four points below leaders Manchester City, with their Midlands rivals Villa seven points back in 15th place.
Villa manager Tim Sherwood was unable to disguise his disappointment.
Photo: Reuters
“I’ve never felt this bad. Ever,” Sherwood told the BBC. “There was a lot of bad play there in the last half hour.”
Meanwhile, Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino encouraged his team to kick on after they won 1-0 at Sunderland to claim their first victory of the campaign.
Ryan Mason finished off an intricate move to score the winner in the 82nd minute after Spurs had weathered spells of pressure at the Stadium of Light, with Tottenham old boy Jermain Defoe notably hitting the post.
After a defeat and three draws in Spurs’ first four games, it was a win that had taken its time in coming and Pochettino voiced optimism that it would be a sign of things to come.
“It’s another clean sheet, the first victory of the league after five games, and now we can move on,” the Argentine said.
Spurs grew into the game and made the breakthrough when Mason ran onto a through-ball from substitute Erik Lamela to score at the culmination of a 15-pass move.
Mason was clattered by Sunderland goalkeeper Costel Pantilimon in the act of scoring and had to be stretchered off, but Pochettino said it did not appear to be serious.
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