HIGHLIGHTS
- LEICESTER CITY 2-4 TOTTENHAM
FULL TIME: WHAT. A. DAY. Phew! To sum it all up, Leicester finishes fifth and qualifies for the Europa League. Tottenham finishes seventh and is set to enter the Europa Conference League.
Harry Kane, in what may be his last game in Spurs colours, finishes as the highest goal-scorer this season.
90 + 5' BALE DOES THE DOUBLE! That's the final nail on the coffin. The Welshman charges past three Leicester players to hit the bar and then find the back of the net on the rebound.
90 + 3' Spurs running down the clock as Son makes way for Rodon.
90' There will be five minutes of added time, ladies and gents!
87' BALE, OFF THE BENCH, AND ONTO THE SCORESHEET! VAR checks for a potential handball but the goal stands. Kane shimmies about the Leicester defence and finally lays it ahead of Bale, who swings it in.
84' Iheanacho unleashes a fiery drive, which crashes into the upper stands.
80' Perez comes on for Albrighton.
78' Son creates back-to-back chances as the last goal breathes life into the squad. While Schmeichel pulls off a stunning save on the first occasion, Soyuncu's smart interception saves the day once again.
76' SPURS PULLS THINGS BACK LEVEL AGAIN! DRAMA. DRAMA. Son whips in a curler off a corner-kick and it goes IN! Schmeichel gets the last touch, while trying to punch the ball away. Own goal.
73' Chelsea's Ben Chilwell scores at Villa Park! All kinds of storyline possible hereon.
72' Reguilon darts in from the right but loses control at the edge of the box. As things stand, Spurs will miss European football next season.
67' Double change for Tottenham. Bale comes on for Bergwijn. Moura replaces Alli. As has been the custom for quite some time now, they are greeted with boos and jeers from the crowd.
64' Tielemans' well-executed delivery from the corner right into the middle of the box has been cleared by Doherty.
63'
At Villa Park, Chelsea has pulled one back. Oops! Turns out the goal has been disallowed.
61' Maddison greeted with a warm round of applause as he walks off the park. Pereira takes his place in the middle.
58' The first yellow card of the game! Bergwijn's sloppy challenge on Iheanacho sees his name go into the referee's notebook.
57' A rare brainfade moment from Kane, who shoots one into outer space even though Son had acres of space on the left.
55' EVEN BETTER NEWS... ASTON VILLA IS 2-0 UP AT VILLA PARK! THE CROWD AT THE KING POWER STADIUM ARE UP ON THEIR FEET.
51' Penalty awarded to Leicester! Vardy and Sanchez are involved in a tussle as the former goes down in the box. VAR to confirm the earlier call, the spot kick stays and VARDY SCORES! Lloris doesn't even move. AS THINGS STAND, LEICESTER IS THROUGH TO THE UCL.
48' Tielemans to take the corner. It is a long cross to Soyuncu at the far end of the post. The ball rolls out of play.
47' Maddison and Vardy combine well to give the home fans early hope in the second-half. However, Thomas fails to keep it in.
45' No changes for either of the sides at half-time. Leicester, sporting its 2021-22 home kit tonight, saunters out into the centre of the pitch.
HALF-TIME: Leicester doesn't have enough at the break to make the UCL but with 45 minutes of gametime remaining across England, a lot is yet to be uncovered. The home team, though, have some good news in the form of Bertrand Traore's opener at Villa Park.
45' Two minutes have been added on.
41' Kane surges past Salah on the Golden Boot leaderboard! Son's corner-kick lingers in the box for quite some time as Leicester fails to put the ball away. It all ends with Kane's side-footed volley, through Schmeichel's legs and into the nets.
38' This is the closest Spurs has come to scoring tonight! Alli sends in a loopy delivery to Son, who ghosts past the Leicester defence, but gets a poor first touch on the ball. Kane could only bury his face into his palms.
36' Albrighton! This was almost the Foxes' second one in. The Englishman pulls the trigger from a long way out but Lloris executes a timely dive to keep further worries at bay.
32' Keeping practice for Schmeichel! Kane, trying to find Son in the middle, ends up playing one straight into the mitts of the Danish stopper from the flanks.
28' Reguilon heaves a sigh of relief! The Spaniard commits what could have been a very costly error as his cross lands straight at Iheanacho's feet. But the Nigerian makes a mess of the wonderful opportunity, spraying it way wide. To make matters worse, the flag had gone up and there was a handball as well.
26' Son delivers the first Tottenham corner of the game. Vardy boots it away at the near post.
23' Alli, cramped for space, desperately attempts to work a throughball around the Leicester area. Mendy's well-timed block cleans up the impending danger.
20' Fofana is in tears as he hobbles off the ground with an injury. Mendy takes his place as Ndidi drops to the back.
18' Referee Anthony Taylor points to the spot as a collective roar erupts at King Power! Initially, uninterested in the host's appeal after Vardy gets tripped in the area, the referee finally does resort to the VAR hub. Lloris goes the wrong way as the Foxes find themselves in front.
13' Doherty breaks into a run along the wide space on the right. He passes the baton to Bergwijn, who ends up losing possession.
10' Ndidi goes down. But the Nigerian midfielder is up on his feet in no time and somehow manages to snake past three Spurs challengers. Iheanacho takes over, laying one on the path of Maddison, who goes for the kill. It, however, takes a deflection before sailing out of play.
7' Maddison threads a pass to Vardy, who fails to get the ball across. A corner has been awarded to the host much to the joy of the crowd.
5' Tielemans sends a searching cross into the box. However, an alert Doherty rises above Thomas to head it clear.
3' Tottenham has looked threatening from the get-go. Son, fed with a long ball behind Castagne, fails to make his way into the danger zone. Ends up driving a poor ball wide of the post.
KICKOFF *whistle* Tottenham gets the ball rolling from right to left after the players take a knee to send across a strong message against discrimination.
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Leicester - Starting XI (3-4-1-2): Schmeichel; Castagne, Fofana, Soyuncu; Albrighton, Tielemans , Ndidi, Thomas; Maddison; Iheanacho, Vardy
Subs: Ward, Morgan, Perez, Amartey, Choudhury, Pereira, Mendy, Praet, Fuchs
Tottenham - Starting XI (4-2-3-1): Lloris; Doherty, Alderweireld, Sanchez, Reguilon; Winks, Hojbjer; Bergwijn, Alli, Son; Kane
Subs: Hart, Bale, Lamela, Rodon, Dier, Moura, Vinicius, Scarlett, John
PREDICTED XI
Leicester: Schmeichel; Soyuncu, Castagne, Fofana, Thomas; Ndidi, Tielemans, Albrighton, Maddison; Iheanacho, Vardy
Tottenham: Lloris; Doherty, Alderweireld, Dier, Reguilon; Hojbjerg, Lo Celso; Bale, Dele, Son; Kane
RECENT FORM
Leicester: W-D-L-W-L
Tottenham: W-W-L-W-L
HEAD-TO-HEAD
Tottenham has won 57 matches against Leicester City, thus far. The Foxes, on the other hand, have emerged victorious on 37 occasions. The sides have played out 21 draws.
MATCH PREVIEW
Leicester City wants to build on its FA Cup victory and challenge for greater honours next season even though it lacks the financial muscle to compete with the Premier League's bigger clubs, manager Brendan Rodgers said on Friday.
Leicester is fifth in the standings - level on 66 points with Liverpool and one behind Chelsea - after dropping out of the top four for the first time this season following Tuesday's loss at the London club.
"We want to fight for trophies," Rodgers told a news conference.
"If we could become a sustainable club in European football, that shows we're successful. Commercially, we're 10th. For budget, we are eighth. It will be difficult to compete with clubs three or four times our budget but it doesn't stop us fighting. The lowest we will finish is sixth this season."
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Leicester goes into Sunday's fixture against Tottenham Hotspur behind fourth-placed Liverpool on goal difference and, barring a huge win over Spurs, it will miss out on reaching the Champions League for the first time since 2016 if Liverpool beats Crystal Palace.
Rodgers said although he was ecstatic at winning the FA Cup for the first time in the club's history, he would be disappointed if the team did not finish in the top four as it fights "two of Europe's biggest clubs" for the final two places.
"We would have no one (else) to blame. We take the responsibility ourselves, we'll fight to the end," he added.
"What we don't want is for the door to be open for us and us not to walk through it. So we need to get a victory and see where it takes us. Our concentration is on winning the game against a talented Spurs team. If we finish on 69 points and don't make it into the UEFA Champions League, we have been unfortunate."
Rodgers confirmed injured defender Jonny Evans would miss the clash with Spurs.
- Reuters
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