It has happened to some of the finest players in any sport. A brief moment of madness in which even the upper echelon of athletics are brought down to the lowest level. In English football, we’ve bore witness to some doozies. From Eric Cantona’s kung-fu kick to Luis Suarez’s strange choice of in-game meals, the heat of the moment can make spectacular players do spectacularly stupid things. While Jamie Vardy’s sending off against West Ham didn’t involve that level of violence of other incidents, it did involve a lack of judgment that could cost his team the Premiership.
Cantona’s stud first lunge into a Crystal Palace supporter saw him suspended for the remainder of the season. Manchester United lost the title to Blackburn Rovers by one point. Suarez was shelved for the remainder of the 2012-13 for his bite of Branislav Ivanovic and into the next season. Liverpool would lose the title that second year by two pints to Manchester City. Jamie Vardy’s Foxes are just five points ahead of Tottenham with four games to go, and he could miss a minimum of half of those games. If the FA doesn’t provide leniency following his acceptance of personal conduct charges, he could be sidelined for them all.
But will such a fate doom Leicester City to a stretch run implosion that would cost them their first top flight title ever? Many believe so. I’m not so certain. If Leicester has shown anything this season, it has been resiliency. They’ve faced trials before with injuries to both Vardy and Riyad Mahrez over the course of the season. Penalty woes from the latter also looked damning against some of the league’s lower level clubs. Their early season defensive record was easily the worst among title contenders. Nobody gave Leicester City a realistic chance to continue to compete.
Leicester City has persevered through all these ordeals and have maintained their place in the Barclays Premier League table. Robert Huth, Wes Morgan, Christian Fuchs, and Danny Simpson have come together in front of Kasper Schmeichel to keep ten clean sheets in 2016. Danny Drinkwater and N’Golo Kante have more than covered for the talismanic Mahrez when he’s been out of form or banged up. Shinji Okazaki and Leonadro Ulloa provided more than adequate relief when the record setting Vardy hasn’t been ready for action.
Nothing in Leicester City’s 2015-16 resume should give you any inclination that they won’t have similar success for however long Vardy’s punishment from the FA is. Okazaki and Ulloa will combine to fill in the shoes of their number 9 and their teammates will give both men plenty of opportunities to put the ball in the back of the net. Their run-in will be stressful, especially this week at the King Power Stadium against Swansea City. But if they can weather the initial storm, the final three matches at Manchester United, home to Everton, and ending at Chelsea, should be games they can get results from.
There are going to be so many images associated with Leicester City’s improbable run to glory in 2015-16. Claudio Ranieri’s pizza party once his club hit 40 points was a moment of humility. Jamie Vardy’s run of 11 straight games with a goal was history making. Riyad Mahrez’s rise from Ligue 2 secondary purchase to the Premier League’s most versatile playmaking asset has been eye opening. Five seconds of belittlement of an official will not dampen those images, nor will it cost them the Premier League. It is an ugly smudge on a shining display of football from one of the great footballing stories ever, but it is one that will be cleaned up. Jamie Vardy will NOT cost his side the Premier League crown.