By Kayode OGUNDARE
Rafa Benitez got a rude welcome back to the Premier League when his struggling Newcastle side came unstuck 1-0 against league leaders Leicester City on Monday night to signal how fierce a fight the former Liverpool and Chelsea manager has on his hands to salvage the Magpies.
It was fitting that a bicycle kick should resolve this game. Leicester are pedalling away from the rest now. They have broken away from the peloton, and on they go towards the finish line. They are going to take some stopping now.
Pessimists may look at the slender margins of victory but that is all they need, now. Chelsea were in similar mode by this stage last season, and nobody doubted them.
Of course, because they were Chelsea. Leicester are Leicester. And we cannot compute the idea of Leicester as champions, so we doubt. Yet when no less a judge than Sir Alex Ferguson predicts they will win the title with as many as three games to spare, perhaps it is time to start listening.
These are good results that Leicester are getting. Good results in tricky games. It was difficult to play Newcastle on Monday. New manager, players suddenly keen to impress. Leicester did not make it look easy but they did a good, professional job. They took the lead after 25 minutes, and held it.
That is what champions do. They find ways to win. Having taking all three points in a similarly tough game at Watford – Arsenal found them no pushover on Sunday – with a cracking goal from Riyad Mahrez, this was another splendid finish. Marc Albrighton crossed and Steven Taylor just couldn’t get sufficient purchase on his header clear.
The ball went to Jamie Vardy at the far post. He had no right to win it, surrounded by taller men, but headed the ball back across the area where Shinji Okazaki flipped acrobatically in the air, executing a perfect bicycle kick, the ball going sharply down, leaving goalkeeper Rob Elliot with no chance.
It was never wholly comfortable, and Newcastle looked busier than in recent matches under Steve McClaren but the odd shot from Ayoze Perez aside, Leicester had the game largely under control.
They are back to five points clear again with a visit to Crystal Palace next. That is no cakewalk either – as Liverpool found to their cost when scrapping for the title – but Leicester looked unfazed, even with the title theirs to lose.
Claudio Ranieri still talks about the Europa League as the target, the fans sing about staying up – even though the season’s initial milestone has long been passed – and the likes of Tottenham still peering up, wondering when the crash will come. Maybe never. One nil is as good a score as any.
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