Shinji Okazaki the Latest Unlikely Hero as Leicester City Keep Up Title Push

Shinji Okazaki scored with a brilliant bicycle kick as Leicester City continued their march toward the Premier League title on Monday night with a 1-0 victory at home to Newcastle United.

Almost none of that sentence would have made sense as recently as last August, but with just eight games left in this most unpredictable of seasons, that's exactly what we've come to expect.

Five points clear once again and closer than ever to the title, Leicester continue to make even the biggest doubters believe. With a hero-of-the-day approach and an admirable ability to grind out results, the Foxes are turning the unexpected into the ordinary in their improbable title run.

The latest hero is Okazaki, a 29-year-old Japanese striker few in England had heard of before his arrival at the King Power Stadium last summer from Mainz. He'll be all over the airwaves for the next few days, though, after his sensational overhead kick settled this match in the 25th minute.

After Newcastle failed to fully clear a corner, the ball bounced around the box before Jamie Vardy headed it to Okazaki. Keeping his back to goal, the Japanese striker timed his leap perfectly and showed impeccable concentration to volley backwards into the net past Rob Elliot.

With that, Leicester had done enough to secure an 18th win of the season and restore their five-point cushion over Tottenham Hotspur. It wasn't the prettiest of wins, with just one shot on target and a noticeable drop in energy levels near full-time. But come May, when the league is finished, Okazaki's goal might just turn out to be one of the most memorable and important strikes of the season.

While Leicester weren't nearly at their best on this night, this magical moment made all the difference.

Considering all the star names on offer in the Premier League, and considering all the big-money teams that should be challenging Leicester for the title, Okazaki is hardly the player you'd expect to be scoring a goal with such potential magnitude. But that's just how it's gone this season for the Foxes.

Riyad Mahrez and Jamie Vardy have been the brightest attacking stars, but before the season started, neither was a household name in Britain. But even when they haven't produced, Leicester have continued to win, thanks to a different hero seemingly every week.

Against Norwich City last month, it was Leonardo Ulloa scoring in the 89th minute for a narrow 1-0 win. Three weeks before that, it was Robert Huth, a defender, netting twice at Manchester City. No matter the opponent, no matter the location, it seems a new hero is waiting in the wings.

That certainly bodes well for the Foxes' title chances, with challengers stumbling all around them. And so does this: Despite not playing their best, Claudio Ranieri's men once again found a way to churn out a result. As the cliche goes, that's the stuff of champions.

"It wasn't the best performance from us but we showed fantastic spirit," Ranieri told BBC Sport. "We defended very well. We played, and we fought. It wasn't nervy in the second half, the team was so close and compact."

The Leicester boss added: "I feel now that I am just concentrating on the next game against Crystal Palace. We are so strong, we think only one game at a time. Step by step, that is our philosophy."

Maybe what Ranieri really meant was one game and one hero at a time.

Follow @MiguelCominguez