Where there’s Jamie Vardy, there’s hope. Ruud van Nistelrooy has jokingly asked reporters to stop pointing out Leicester’s living legend stole the Dutchman’s record for scoring in 11 consecutive Premier League games in late 2015, but late in 2024 he is delighted the veteran striker has scored in successive games to kickstart a new era at the King Power Stadium.
Brighton were coasting to a 2-0 victory that would have sent them into fifth place - potentially a Champions League spot - but with 86 minutes on the clock Vardy volleyed home his sixth goal of the season to inspire hope of a comeback that had never looked on as Brighton created chance after chance, just as West Ham United had on Tuesday night here.
Van Nistelrooy sent fresh wingers on with half an hour to play and it was Bobby De Cordova-Reid’s deflected shot that fell for Vardy to score. Then, in the first minute of added time,, the former Fulham forward was on hand to side-foot in his first goal for Leicester after Vardy squared an easy ball to him six yards out.
So that is four points from two games for Van Nistelrooy. At this stage, he may be glad to be considered a lucky general if not yet proven a good one. At least they are moving in the right direction in terms of results, and the former Manchester United interim manager claimed the second-half showing in this game was much closer to what he was seeking.
“I felt the performance in the second half permitted us to score two goals,” Van Nistelrooy said. “The overall performance, and the focus on playing how we want to play, and giving everything physically and mentally – I enjoyed that. The second goal was a brilliant moment, so late in the game, when you have the calmness and composure to decide on these things, that is absolutely top class. We are glad we have that in our team.
“After the [previous] game, we were very effective with the three goals, but we let West Ham in way too much. We acknowledged it and today, the performance was way better than Tuesday’s in that sense, we controlled the [second half]. We put a lot of pressure on Brighton which is one of the best footballing sides in the league.”
For Brighton, this was definitely a case of two points lost. Just as they had allowed Wolves to recover from two goals down to claim a point, so they let Leicester off the hook. Fabian Hürzeler, the Brighton manager, said: “When you’re 2-0 up and have controlled the whole game, don’t give too many shots away, but then things happen in the last 10 minutes and you don’t win, you should be disappointed. We have to find game management in this situation to take the three points.”
He refused to blame his forwards for missing chances and said his players need to defend as a team right till the end. “It’s our fault, our responsibility. We have to be more mature, more clear, in the way we solve things in the last five or six minutes then these things won’t happen.
“If we had been more efficient, we would have won the game. We should be critical of ourselves. We have to be honest: it’s not about getting performances, it’s about getting results.”
Hürzeler’s side may have had two days fewer to recover from their midweek exertions but with four changes to their starting XI, they looked the more incisive during the first period.
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João Pedro should have done better than side-foot wide his left-footed back-post volley after Tariq Lamptey’s cross. Mads Hermansen flew to tip aside Pervis Estupiñán’s curving shot. Lamptey, having switched the play from right to left, collected Estupiñán’s overhit cross, cut back inside on to his left foot and proceeded to curl a beauty into the far top corner. It was his first Premier League goal since November 2020, a record that was placed in context five minutes later when, let in on goal by Jordan Ayew’s mistake, the wing-back opted to square rather than shoot.
Slowly but surely Leicester got on the front foot after the break, only to be hit on the counterattack when Yankuba Minteh, on as a substitute, ran onto Mats Wieffer’s long pass, hustled his way past Victor Kristiansen and shot home. That looked like game set and match for Brighton. But, with Van Nistelrooy having revived Leicester’s spirit, Vardy had something to say about that.
