Leicester City overcame Preston North End in one of the most comfortable matches of the season by a score of 3-0 at Deepdale on Monday night. The victory confirms the Foxes as the Champions of the Championship, the 8th time Leicester have finished atop the second tier. A Jamie Vardy brace, one goal in each half, plus a late Kasey McAteer header, ensured the Foxes would finish atop the table with one match to play.
Vardy now has more goals than starts this season because he's Jamie Vardy and he does Jamie Vardy things. I'm out of words. One of these days he'll be gone and we won't know what to do, but I'm glad today is not that day. Fatawu's growth has been ridiculous. He deserved a goal and nearly got one, but it was his pass to McAteer that was just otherworldly. It's was just a quick flick of the ankle to stand the ball up, a little improvisation out of nothing.
The win gives us 97 points from 45 matches played and ensures we will finish the season atop the table (if you haven't already picked up on that because, you know, I said it in the first paragraph). We host Blackburn on Sunday in a match that will mean absolutely nothing to us unless we're just highly motivated to get to the century mark. Rovers still have an outside chance of being relegated, so they will be on their toes. After that?
Yunus got a little ahead of himself on Friday...or does he have the EERIE POWER TO FORESEE THE FUTURE?!?!?
After that it gets interesting. Who do we sell? Who stays? Will we face a points deduction at the start of the season or, more likely, how big will the points deduction be? Who knows? Enjoy this for a while first. I've said it before and I still believe it: Promotion is better than winning the top flight. We have all summer to dream about what's to come. Relish this feeling because it's special.
Leicester City: Jakub Stolarczyk, Ricardo Pereira, Conor Coady, Jannik Vestergaard, Wout Faes (C), Wilfred Ndidi (Hamza Choudhury 71'), Harry Winks, Yunus Akgun (Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall 76'), Abdul Fatawu (James Justin 86'), Kasey McAteer (Stephy Mavididi 71'), Jamie Vardy (Tom Cannon 76')
Preston North End: Freddie Woodman, Liam Lindsay, Will Keane, Alan Browne, Mads Frokjaer-Jensen, Robbie Brady, Andrew Hughes, Ryan Ledson, Liam Millar, Jack Whatmough, Milutin Osmajic
Key Moments and Notes
1'- The pitch is covered with balloons and beach balls, the majority of which have been deflated. Neither side have much to play for tonight. A win would give the Foxes the League Championship title, but with promotion guaranteed, it doesn't make a lot of difference. Preston will be neither relegated nor promoted.
8'- There's not much quality on display on this rainy night at Deepdale. The fans are in fine voice, though.
14'- Close! A fine reverse ball from Yunus picks out Vardy in the area. Woodman is out quickly to smother the shot. The PNE back four seem a little static tonight.
21'- Close! Ricardo plays a backheel through ball, nutmegging his defender in the process. Yunus pounces, but Lindsay gets down to block what looked a certain goal.
28'- Close! Oh my, that should have been a goal. The Foxes lull the hosts to sleep with a long spell of possession before Ricardo slips Fatawu in on the right. His cross finds McAteer's run at the far post and he is all alone just six yards out. He lets the ball come to him rather than climbing to attack it, and he puts it high and wide. Disappointing.
36'- GOAL! A thunderous strike from Jamie Vardy! Just kidding, it barely dribbles in, but it counts the same. Ndidi plays a magnificent cross-field ball to Fatawu. The Ghanaian finds Yunus in the area, who squares it for the GOAT with his back to goal. He turns and shoots. It takes a massive deflection and beats Woodman at the far post.
I love Nigerian football Twitter, but Turkish football Twitter isn't far behind.
44'- Close! Ricardo gets a head to Fatawu's cross but it doesn't have enough power (almost none) or placement (directly into the keeper's arms) to amount to anything.
HALF-TIME: Preston North End 0 - 1 Leicester City
46'- We're back at Deepdale. No changes for either side.
52'- GOAL-WITH-A-LOTTA-LOL! Wout Faes tears through the Preston defence like it isn't there. He cuts inside on his right peg and beats the keeper but sees the ball come off the inside of the post. Vardy is there to pounce. He can't miss from there.
62'- Yunus gets wiped out on the edge of the area but the referee plays advantage. Ricardo's cross is...unfortunate. Typical night for Yunus: He's looked really clever at times, but it's still not quite coming together for him.
65'- Close! A poor backpass is picked off by Vardy and he's clean through. Full credit to Woodman for making the stop, but the striker will be disappointed with how easily his shot was saved.
67'- GOAL! Fatawu makes a mug of his man and sets up a perfect cross for McAteer. This time, standing and letting it come to him is precisely the right decision.
72'- Close! The defence backs off of Fatawu, allowing him to cut inside on his left foot. No keeper on the planet would stop it, but the far post is no keeper! It cannons off the woodwork as loudly as any shot I've ever heard.
74'- Yunus and Vardy come off in favour of Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Tom Cannon. Not hat trick for Vardy today, but I somehow doubt he'll mind too much.
80'- Close! A loose ball finds Winks at the edge of the area. His shot forces a diving, but ultimately comfortable, save from the very busy Preston keeper.
86'- James Justin comes on for Fatawu. I would say "job done," but this job has been done for some time.
87'- This match is like Bilbo Baggins before reaching the Trollshaws: No sting. Theo Mawene and Noah Mawene come on for the Lilywhites. They're the sons of Preston legend Youl Mawene, so it's a really nice moment for the home supporters.
90'- Close! Coady misplays a ball over the top directly into the path of substitute Layton Stewart. The striker latches on to it and shoots directly over Stolarczyk, but the keeper makes a fine leap to recover it.
FULL TIME: Preston North End 0 - 3 Leicester City
OK, I often link Polyphia's G.O.A.T. when referring to Jamie Vardy because, well, that's what he is. Just because I love you all so very much, here's a reaction video by the incomparable Chase Carneson. It's his first time hearing any Polyphia song and I wanted to share his joy with ya.