Leicester City have another tough assignment this weekend as they take on Tottenham Hotspur at the King Power Stadium.

The two clubs are now firmly established in the Premier League, with the Foxes having recently lifted the title and Tottenham reaching the UEFA Champions League last season.

That success is a far cry from when the two sides met at the end of the 2000/01 season when both were firmly marooned in mid-table. The East-Midlanders came into the clash at Filbert Street on a horrendous run of eight straight league defeats. Meanwhile, Glenn Hoddle’s men had only won five league matches since early December.

It was predicted then that the meeting between the two in the penultimate game of the season would be an underwhelming affair, but those calls could not have been anymore wrong.

Leicester lead after quiet first-half

The Foxes only managed to score 39 goals throughout the entire season and those struggles continued throughout the first period until former Derby County and Stoke City boss Gary Rowett speared them ahead from a corner just before the break.

Spurs hit back after the restart though as Simon Davies scored an excellent equaliser, triggering a flurry of goals in the East-Midlands.

Exquisite flick from Sturridge sees Foxes edge ahead

Barely two minutes later, Dean Sturridge found plenty of space at the near post and converted a glorious flick with his backheel past Tottenham goalkeeper Neil Sullivan.

The goals continued to come and Stephen Carr was the next man to get on the scoresheet. Tottenham were awarded a free-kick on the edge of the penalty area and the defender stepped up to brilliantly fire the ball into the top corner of Tim Flowers’ net.

Embed from Getty Images

Late goals secure win for hosts

With the game edging towards the closing stages, two more quickfire strikes from the hosts saw them claim victory and end their awful run in the league. First, Foxes’ cult hero Steve Guppy was unmarked at the back post to turn a cross low into the net.

Then, Leicester were given the opportunity to finally seal the three points in the 90th minute as Callum Davidson was tripped in the penalty area, seeing a spotkick awarded. Skipper Robbie Savage was the man to take responsibility and he stayed cool to send Sullivan the wrong way to condemn Tottenham to their 13th away defeat in the league that season

The victory did not really inspire Leicester to turn their form around as they lost their final match 3-1 against Leeds United to finish 13th. Meanwhile, Tottenham ended their campaign positively with an impressive win over Manchester United to end one place further up in 12th.

VAVEL Logo
About the author