Keys to Tottenham Hotspur beating Leicester City in EPL finale

On Sunday, Tottenham Hotspur travels to the midlands to take on Leicester City in the Premier League finale for both teams. Both the Spurs and Foxes have European aspirations on the line, although a loss would like to be more hurtful to the Lilywhites, knocking them out of any European competition altogether. With a slim shot of qualifying for the Europa League on the line here are the keys to Tottenham coming up with a big road win.

How Tottenham beats Leicester

Clearly the key to slowing Leicester City is to stop their main man, Jamie Vardy. Like Harry Kane with Spurs, Vardy leads the Foxes in both goals – 13 – and assists – with 9 in the Premier League. So of course beating Leicester starts with slowing Vardy but lately, Vardy has not been punching alone.

Spurs need to slow the Vardy-Iheanacho, one-two punch

Over the last few months of the season, form Chelsea man Kelechi Iheanacho – still just 24 – has started to grow into the player the Blues thought they had a few years back. Iheanacho has 19 goals in all competitions for Leicester four more than Jamie Vardy.

More impressively, Ineanacho has seven of those goals and two assists just since April. To say the Nigerian has found his grove is an understatement. Whereas Vardy still is a speed demon – despite being 34-years-old – Iheanacho is turning into a finisher who is just popping up at the right place and time to put the ball into the net.

Tottenham has to both limit the times Vardy gets behind the defense and stay in front of Iheanacho in the box. If Vardy gets behind the defense and Iheanacho finds space and time in the box, it could be a long day for Tottenham.

Tottenham needs to pressure the Leicester defense

One of the keys to beating Leicester is to keep them off the scoreboard the other is to stretch their defense. With the loss of Johnny Evans, Leicester lost their leader in the backline. They have also seemingly lost the ability to play with four in the back, opting for a back three since Evans got hurt.

Tottenham needs to leverage this opportunity with Evans out and work to keep pressure on the Foxes defense. Caglar Soyuncu can be a weak link in the defense, and Tottenham is going to need to push that advantage.

If Tottenham can keep Soyuncu and Wesley Fofana under pressure and not allow clean passing lanes to Wilfred Ndidi and Youri Tielemans it will help the team. If there is limited pressure on the Leicester back-line they will pick Tottenham apart but under pressure, they can make mistakes.

Tottenham needs Harry Kane to come up big

Historically, there is no team Harry Kane has enjoyed facing more than Leicester City.  Even now years after spending a dreadful loan at King Power Stadium, Kane makes the Foxes pay having scored 16 goals in 15 matches against Leicester City.

Since Jose Mourinho left the goals for Harry Kane have kind of dried up scoring only once since injuring his ankle in late April and Mourinho was sacked. Kane has had chances but has only converted once and Tottenham has lost two of their last four games as a result.

Whether or not Harry Kane is at Tottenham next season is irrelevant right now what is relevant is that Kane plays for Spurs and typically owns Leicester. If the Spurs are going to win, they need Kane to do his thing one more time.

If Kane can find his grove, Tottenham can keep pressure on the Leicester defense, and the Foxes’ strikers can be held in check, the Spurs can win the game.