Jamie Vardy makes promotion claim as Leicester players' celebrations send message to Leeds United

Jamie Vardy
Jamie Vardy spoke after Leicester City's victory over Southampton. -Credit:Michael Regan/Getty Images


Leicester City talisman Jamie Vardy has called for unwavering focus after his team took a huge step towards the Premier League with a jaw-dropping win against Southampton on Tuesday night. However, post-match changing room scenes at the King Power Stadium have, simultaneously, added fuel to the fire for their rivals.

Vardy was on target for the Foxes in their 5-0 victory. That after Abdul Fatawu led the way with a hat-trick.

It was a result which put Leicester four points clear at the Championship summit with two games remaining and two sides - Leeds United and Ipswich Town - still pushing them hard for automatic promotion. Realistically, Leeds and Ipswich are gunning for one place to join them, though.

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However, while Leicester would need a significant collapse to forego an immediate return to the top-flight, their would-be promotion is by no means rubber-stamped just yet. Vardy's post-match message aside, though, a video clip which has emerged from the dressing room after Southampton would have you believe that it was.

"We've still got two games left, six points to play for," said circumspect Leicester captain Vardy during his post-match interview. "We've got to make sure that we're ready for Monday night now, we go again."

He continued: "Definitely [winning promotion at Preston is their target]. We go into every game wanting to win, knowing that we're capable of beating anyone. We'll recover, the lads have put graft in, get back, train and then Monday night."

As you would expect, that rallying cry from Vardy - now 37 - in the public eye was as professional as can be. He knows as well as anyone the unpredictable twists and turns that professional football brings.

Elsewhere at the King Power Stadium on Tuesday night, though, some of his Leicester team-mates almost went into full celebration mode. In a video clip which emerged on social media via Yunus Akgun's Instagram story, the post-match scenes in Leicester's changing room were, perhaps, a little ahead of the mark.

Showing players, head coach Enzo Maresca and his coaching staff dancing around the changing room, with hat-trick hero Fatawu front and centre with his match ball, Leicester forward Akgun added a short captain that read "loading" with a trophy emoji on to a video clip that has since been doing the rounds on other platforms.

A perfect pre-match and team talk note, then, for Leeds to factor in ahead of their trip to QPR.