Jamie Vardy fired Leicester to the Premier League title in the past, now he has a job on his hands to save them from relegation.
The 36-year-old striker came off the bench against fellow strugglers Leeds on Tuesday night to rescue a point in a 1-1 draw at Elland Road – his first goal for the club in 973 minutes in all competitions.
The result means Leicester are a point above safety, but will drop into the bottom three if Everton beat Newcastle on Thursday.
“It could be massive,” said Vardy, who also had a goal ruled out for offside. “We have five cup finals left. We will enjoy the point tonight then get back in and recover.”
Manager Dean Smith added: “Strikers know they’re judged by goals. It’s not been the most fruitful of seasons for him, but that penalty (he won against Wolves) on Saturday and the goal tonight – he’s as important as they come.
“Who knows, he could end up with eight goals by the end of the season.
“Nice to see him score a goal, which he hasn’t done for a while – it was his 135th Premier League goal which just shows you his quality.
“The chance he’s scored today, we’ve seen him take loads of them over time and if we can keep creating chances like that he will take them.”
Vardy ends barren run at right time
Vardy joined Leicester from Fleetwood for £1m in 2012, a record transfer fee for a non-league team, and his 16 goals helped the Foxes to promotion from the Championship at the end of the 2013-14 campaign.
Just two seasons later, Leicester achieved the unimaginable by lifting the Premier League trophy, with Vardy contributing 24 goals during the campaign.
An FA Cup triumph followed in 2021 but the Foxes are now staring at the unthinkable, and relegation back to the second tier.
Leicester fell behind to Luis Sinisterra’s first-half header and substitute Vardy rescued a point with 10 minutes remaining from James Maddison’s pass.
It was just his second league goal of the campaign, ending a run of 20 top-flight matches without scoring.
Vardy said: “The gaffer has come in and every manager has their tactics but it comes down to defending one box and attacking the other. We have to keep working.”
“I probably can’t say what I want to say on TV because I’ll get done but it’s been a weird season for me. Hopefully the goals keep coming.”
Maddison added: “Jamie Vardy was born to score goals. When I saw it was him finishing it off I felt calm. We need to take the challenges and hopefully get the end goal.”
Leeds ‘masters of their own downfall’
Leeds missed the opportunity to go four points clear of the relegation zone and instead stay firmly entrenched in trouble, just two points above the bottom three.
They could have won it in injury time but Daniel Iversen made an acrobatic save to deny Marc Roca’s header and striker Patrick Bamford missed an even better opportunity when he put wide from a couple of yards out.
Leeds collected 10 points in their first six games under Javi Gracia, who replaced the sacked Jesse Marsch, but have now lost three of their past four.
“It happens in football,” winger Jack Harrison said of Bamford’s miss. “This is part of the game. There were others with chances and things we could have avoided. I know him as a person and he will look forward to redeeming himself. We’re all behind him.”
Gracia added: “That chance is coming from an offside position. The clearest chance for me is the corner kick and Marc Roca’s header. That was the chance to get a better result. We tried but it was late.”
Leeds face another crucial game in their battle for survival against Bournemouth on Sunday.
Former Leeds goalkeeper Paul Robinson said on BBC Radio 5 Live: “Leeds should have three points. You can’t emphasise how big that moment was for Patrick Bamford, he looks like he’s lacking in confidence. Moments like that define your season.
“It will feel like two points dropped for Leeds because it’s such a big week. They have to take four points from this week.
“As soon as Jamie Vardy came on, he caused Leeds all sorts of problems but Leeds are the masters of their own downfall.”
