Leicester City came from behind to stun hosts Manchester City in a wild 5-2 win and collect a third straight victory to earn the top spot of the Premier League table on Sunday.
Jamie Vardy scored his second hat trick of the season. He already had his first against West Bromwich Albion on the opening weekend as the striker looks to back up a 2019-20 season which he ended as the league’s top scorer with 23 goals.
Pep Guardiola’s side went ahead after just four minutes thanks to Riyad Mahrez’s thunderous strike. But City’s defence could not handle the pace and movement of Vardy, as he tore Guardiola’s creaky defence to pieces
Leicester levelled on 37 minutes through Vardy’s first penalty after he was fouled by Kyle Walker. Vardy then put the visitors ahead with an expertly flicked 54th-minute finish after fine interplay between Timothy Castagne and Youri Tielemans.
He then completed his hat-trick four minutes later, again giving Ederson no chance with his second spot-kick after he was fouled by Eric Garcia.
James Maddison’s brilliant strike added Leicester’s fourth before Nathan Ake scored his first City goal. Then a third penalty with two minutes left converted by Youri Tielemans made it five.
This is the first time ever that Guardiola saw one of his teams concede five goals in his 686th game as a manager with City, Bayern Munich and Barcelona.
This is a worrisome display, though Pep Guardiola’s side was without a mass of key players through injury and issues related to COVID-19. It came six days after City beat Wolverhampton 3-1 in its first match of the season.
