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 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 for 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."

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.

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 furthest 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 club’s players out of the paper bag that had previously housed the post-match refreshments laid on by Leicester.

Still, they were little worse than Stoke City were against Tottenham on Monday night, and as such, Leicester’s performance should be afforded similar plaudits. The Foxes have kept seven clean sheets in their last nine fixtures and go into the final three games aware they would have to drop points in two of them to relinquish their grip on the title.

When trusted foot soldiers Danny Drinkwater and Wes Morgan were both guilty of unforced errors in the first few minutes, it looked as though the spectre of the dropped points to West Ham had failed to be fully exorcised. Neither would be prove crucial; Ashley Williams did not get off so lightly. The Swansea captain's rank profligacy to present Leicester an opener gift-wrapped in a big blue bow would have incensed Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino.

Only 10 minutes had elapsed when Williams, under no pressure whatsoever, lazily gifted the ball to Mahrez 20 yards from goal. There was more than a suspicion of handball as he brought it down, but there was nothing questionable about the finish. Shifting the ball inside on to his favoured left foot, he seemed to slow time before using Williams’ body to disguise a drilled strike past Lukasz Fabianski at his near post. It was Mahrez’s first goal at home since December.

A 17th league goal in 34 appearances is some return for a winger. Mahrez has been involved in a joint-high 28 Premier League goals this season (17 goals, 11 assists), level with Vardy. What makes it all the more impressive is his gilded touch is matched by a ceaseless work rate. Only the indefatigable N’Golo Kante (11.7 km), quelle surprise, covered more ground than Mahrez (11.5 km) over the 90 minutes, according to Sky Sports.

In another side, with team-mates of similar abilities, Mahrez would take to the field on a throne. That’s the genius of Ranieri’s work this season. He may delight with his avuncular eccentricities, yet it should not be forgotten the Italian is a serious football man and that it’s possible to be in possession of both a smile and an iron fist.

In recent weeks, Mahrez has looked like a dog that has exhausted itself having been given free rein on a beach, in dire need of a bowl of water and a sleep in front of a fire. Here, he was back to his effervescent best all afternoon. It was as though he wanted to put on a show before his big night, and put on a show he did.

Swansea couldn’t get near him.

The last time Williams and Mahrez were in close proximity, the Football Association had to get involved, per BBC Sport. Swansea’s captain took umbrage with the behaviour of Mahrez in the corresponding fixture back in December, when the Algerian helped himself to a hat-trick at the Liberty Stadium.

In a scenario that can only be done full justice being accompanied by a Benny Hill soundtrack, Williams clashed with Mahrez outside Swansea’s dressing room after the game and reportedly attempted to follow him on to Leicester’s team bus.

Had Williams succeeded in his ultimately aborted mission, Mahrez’s saving grace would have been the fact he’s the only player in the league capable of dribbling past a raging man mountain within the confines of a motor vehicle. Mahrez and his team-mates arrived at the PFA Awards via helicopter, per the Mirror. The Football Association is likely to investigate claims Williams was spotting hanging off its tail when it landed at Grosvenor House.

Williams was also culpable for Leicester’s second goal. Drinkwater’s set-piece delivery saw Ulloa lose the Welshman before finishing smartly with his head. That made it a sixth assist of the season for the England man. This was the first time Vardy had not been the recipient. Drinkwater made 74 passes on the day, some 35 more than any of his team-mates, in another quietly controlled metronomic performance as the heartbeat of this Leicester side.

How Leicester would adopt their style in the absence of Vardy had been discussed in exhaustive length ahead of the game. By and large, they didn’t. The home side had just 38 per cent possession, allowing Swansea to indulge in sterile domination before hitting them on the counter-attack as soon as they ceded possession. Personnel was tweaked, not the system.

Ranieri’s decision to start Schlupp and leave out Marc Albrighton for just the second time this season proved a masterstroke. Schlupp’s involvement negated a loss of pace brought about by Vardy’s suspension, while Ulloa’s muscular presence exposed a physical fragility in Swansea’s back four that has been breached an eye-watering 20 times from set pieces this season.

It was the same pair who combined for Leicester’s third goal, as Schlupp’s bulldozing run in the second half made a mug of first Rangel and then the covering Federico Fernandez. Williams blocked his first attempt to find Ulloa at the far post, but he couldn't stop the second.

Both Schlupp and Ulloa were replaced late on to standing ovations. Just to rubber-stamp the idea this has been a squad game for Leicester this season, substitute Demarai Gray demonstrated footwork that would have impressed Fred Astaire, let alone Mahrez, as he helped lay on the crowning effort for Albrighton, who greeted Schlupp, the player who had usurped him in Leicester’s starting XI, with a joke and a hug upon replacing him.

The final word, though, belongs to the man who started the day by steadying Leicester’s nerves and ended it by doing likewise to his own after being named the Premier League’s outstanding player by his fellow professionals. Fittingly, Mahrez wanted to share the stage and accolades with his team-mates, per the Guardian.

"

All the credit is for them, seriously. And my manager and the staff.

Without them I wouldn’t receive this award and I wouldn’t score. It’s the team spirit. I want to dedicate it to them.

I’m very grateful to receive this award, it’s a pleasure. It’s extra special because, if the players vote for me, it’s because they’ve seen I’ve been great this year so I’m happy.

"

Few would bet against him feeling even happier over the next few weeks.

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