Premier League Hangover: Mahrez Leads the Way as Leicester City Close on Title

From back to front, side to side and first to last, it was relentless. What started as a march ended as a procession. Leicester City tore into Swansea City on Sunday as a pack of lions might a stray buffalo smeared in barbecue sauce. An eight-point advantage at the summit of the Premier League was cemented.

Harry Kane’s lions may go into the summer on empty stomachs.

Falling uphill all season, Leicester are on the decline and picking up pace in the pursuit of the title. Resplendent in a tuxedo and bow tie as immaculate as his footwork, Riyad Mahrez was crowned PFA Player of the Year on Sunday evening. Earlier in the day, he could have played in his tux and left the field without a mark on it.

A return to form was full of soft touches, feints and flicks—light-footed to the point Mahrez could dip his boots in tar and still exit a snowy crime scene without leaving a print.

It was a day of celebration. There are few glibber statements as oft-repeated in sport as the “crowd acted as a 12th man,” yet even those who subscribe to the writer James Baldwin’s view that sentimentality is “the ostentatious parading of excessive and spurious emotion” would struggle to spend an 90 minutes cocooned in the King Power and not leave a fox lover.

A wall of sound enveloped the stadium, as it has all season. The American music producer Phil Spector said of the formula that made his name: “I was looking for a sound, a sound so strong that if the material was not the greatest, the sound would carry the record. It was a case of augmenting, augmenting. It all fitted together like a jigsaw.” He could have been describing Leicester. 

Every tackle won was greeted as if a goal was scored. Throw-ins elicited standing ovations for the taker. The game’s British broadcaster, Sky Sports, informed viewers shaky camera work was not a technical fault but rather a result of the noise being generated.

Claudio Ranieri commandeered his technical area with his back straight and chest out, proud to the point it seems likely he must have popped at least one button. “Barcelona, we’re coming from you” was the refrain in the closing stages. If Robert Huth hits Neymar with a trademark tackle next season, it will take Barcelona a week to find him.

Ranieri was quick to pay tribute to Leicester’s supporters following the 4-0 victory, per Daniel Taylor of the Guardian: “Unbelievable, unbelievable, unbelievable. I think our fans woke up from the dream and said: ‘We now have only one [more] match at home’ and they want to enjoy it with us and push with all their hearts.

“And we’re ready to fight until the end.”

Words I never thought I would utter: mathematically, only Leicester or Tottenham can win the @premierleague

— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) April 24, 2016

Another war cry from the home faithful went “4-0 to the one-man team,” as Leicester answered the question of whether they could cope without the suspended Jamie Vardy in the most emphatic manner possible.

This was less a side coping in a pressurised situation than it was one revelling in it. All week, a team on the cusp of being immortalised in the annals of true sporting greats had its credentials questioned. Vardy cast as Gulliver, with his team-mates the residents of Lilliput. The little people did just fine. They’ve stood on the shoulders of giants all season; the next three games will determine whether they topple them.

In fact, bit-part players Leonardo Ulloa and Jeffrey Schlupp were better than fine. They were pivotal. Ulloa, a hulking, softly spoken man, was making his first start since January 2. Schlupp last made Leicester’s starting XI on November 7. Both were exceptional. Neither deserves to be dropped for Sunday’s trip to Manchester United. Leicester would be crowned champions with a win in that match if Tottenham Hotspur drop points against West Bromwich Albion on Monday night.

VIDEO: “I’m over the moon!” @vardy7 picks up an award for scoring in 11 consecutive Premier League games #PFAawardshttps://t.co/GizhFo9eeH

— PFA (@PFA) April 24, 2016

Ulloa scored a brace to add to the 94th-minute penalty he calmly converted to salvage a point against West Ham United in the previous game. Schlupp is probably still tearing down the left flank as Angel Rangel pleads with a namesake to save him from the perpetual hell that is facing a winger with a boxer’s physique, sprinter’s pace and a whole load of frustration to take out on an ageing full-back.

Schlupp completed nine dribbles in a tireless display, his most impressive contribution arriving in the second half as he laid on Ulloa’s second.

There will be tougher tests as Leicester seek the five points they need from their final three matches to be mathematically assured of the title, but Tottenham’s margin for error is minute.

Swansea started the game with a striker-less formation. Gylfi Sigurdsson was their farthest player forward, employed as a false nine. He wasn’t the only thing false about Swansea’s performance. This was a team in holiday mode to the extent had any of the players come back from water breaks carrying ice creams, the only complaint from team-mates would have been over a lack of flakes and raspberry sauce.

At full-time, Swans manager Francesco Guidolin praised his side for the fight they showed over the 90 minutes in an interview with Sky Sports. The team’s director of football, the Dalai Lama, nodded his head in agreement as he helped the …

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