Jamie Vardy channels Peter Pan to drag Leicester to Tottenham draw – Premier League hits and misses
Plus: Nicolas Jackson endures another frustrating afternoon for Chelsea during Sunday’s 2-0 home defeat by Manchester City; Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa once again fill the Ivan Toney void as Brentford beat Crystal Palace
Jamie Vardy moved 11 clear in the Premier League goals scored by over-30s charts on Monday night, one of the lesser-mentioned Golden Boot races but one which showcases just how unending his career at the top still feels.
The 37-year-old does have an advantage over most of the other front-runners in that most had retired long before they were contemplating life in their 40s, which is potentially the most impressive thing about Vardy’s already incredible story.
A film of his life was mooted when, four years after playing in non-League, he lifted the Premier League trophy with Leicester in 2016 as a whippet of a striker who saw a high line like a rag to a bull. Another eight years on, he just won’t stop.
He scored their first chance of the game – in the 57th minute – and could have earned them a shock win but for a fine save after that. What he now lacks in raw speed, he has made up for elsewhere. Not everyone adapts so well.
Gary Neville said it best on Monday Night Football: “I thought he’d be a player who relied completely on his pace, running off the shoulder and counter-attacking.
Some of the pace may have gone but he still embodies the inevitable pun of a ‘fox in the box’ for Leicester, and without him there is no way they would have got anything from their opening-weekend game with Tottenham which ended in a 1-1 draw.
And when he lost his pace, lost a yard, he’d find it difficult to adapt his game, as many others have. But he’s still going at 37. He’s still got that burst, that yard. He looks so fit and looks like he hasn’t put a pound on.”
Vardy eluded to the not-so-secret source of his longevity in his post-match interview, reeling off his long list of recovery techniques involving oxygen tents and cryotherapy chambers.
He is football’s equivalent of Peter Pan in his refusal to grow up, not only in his preparation but as the tongue-in-cheek point to the Premier League logo as a reminder to Tottenham’s fans of 2016 showed too.
About The Author
