Leicester 2-1 Tottenham: VAR rules out Spurs second before Foxes come from behind

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Malik Ouzia @MalikOuzia_26 September 2019

Tottenham were guilty of surrendering a lead for the second time in four days as James Maddison’s stunning late strike saw Leicester come from behind to claim a 2-1 victory at the King Power Stadium.

Harry Kane’s superb battling strike had given Spurs the lead midway through the first-half, and they looked to have the points wrapped up when Serge Aurier found the far corner via a deflection after the interval, only for the strike to be ruled out by VAR for the very tightest of offside calls.

Ricardo Pereira levelled the scores with his first goal of the season, before Maddison’s 25-yard effort won it five minutes from time in front of the watching England manager, Gareth Southgate.

Tottenham made six changes to the side that threw away a two-goal lead against Olympiakos in midweek, with captain Hugo Lloris and Dele Alli absent from the squad altogether.

Brendan Rodgers brought Ayoze Perez and Harvey Barnes back into his starting line-up as the only two changes to the team that started the defeat at Old Trafford last weekend.

The home side thought they were ahead when stand-in ‘keeper Paulo Gazzaniga spilt straight into the path of Perez, with Wilfried Ndidi eventually bundling home, but VAR showed that Perez had come from an offside position.

Fine margins: VAR ruled out Tottenham's second in the second half
AFP/Getty Images

It was a moment of part-persistence, part-brilliance from Kane that broke the deadlock soon after, the England captain somehow managing to not only keep his feet but take the ball past Jonny Evans after being nudged in the back, and then chopping a finish past Kasper Schmeichel as he fell to the ground.

The hosts were unperturbed, and continued to threaten after the break with some lovely football, with Vardy going close on the counter-attack at one end, before Son Heung-Min missed an excellent chance to give Spurs some breathing space at the other.

Then came a far more controversial VAR intervention, as Serge Aurier’s deflected strike was ruled out after Son was deemed to be offside in the build-up, the replay showing his shoulder to be millimetres ahead of Caglar Soyuncu’s knee.

Predictably, the Foxes took advantage of their reprieve almost immediately, when fullback Ricardo arrived to meet Vardy’s half-cleared cross and sidefoot home.

And things got even better for Leicester, and even tougher to swallow for Spurs, when Maddison arrowed into the bottom corner late on.

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