Jamie Vardy was the star of the show, as Leicester City put five past Manchester City on matchday 3 of the 2020-21 Premier League season.
The Foxes came into the clash boasting a 100% record, having picked up maximum points from their opening two fixtures but nobody could have foreseen what was to unfold at the Etihad.
Manchester City had been in fine form at home since the last campaign and had been unbeaten on their turf since a 3-2 reversal to Wolverhampton Wanderers in December 2019.
Leicester City, for their part, had been atrocious on their travels and a major reason for their drop-off in performance towards the end of last season was their poor form on the road, which saw them fail to win any of their final 12 away matches of the campaign.
However, the form book was thrown to the cleaners and Jamie Vardy was the spearhead of the Leicester City attack that ripped Manchester City apart.
The hosts went into an early lead when Riyad Mahrez scored a spectacular goal in the 4th minute and anyone would have been forgiven for thinking it would be business as usual for Pep Guardiola’s side.
Jamie Vardy, however, had other ideas and leveled matters eight minutes before half-time when he stood up and took the resultant penalty after he was fouled in the area by Kyle Walker.
Nine minutes after the restart, the former England international showed great composure to finish an excellent cross by Timothy Castagne with his backfoot, leaving Ederson sprawled on the ground.
He was, however, not done and just three minutes later, he was again fouled in the box, this time by Eric Garcia and Vardy made no mistake in getting his hat-trick with what was just his 15th touch in the game.
James Maddison scored an excellent worldie from 20 yards out, finding the top corner past the despairing dive of Ederson and the England international soon won yet another penalty after he was felled in the area by Benjamin Mendy.
Remarkably, this was already the 20th penalty awarded in just 21 Premier League matches this season and Youri Tielemans stepped up to convert from 18 yards out, quelling hopes of City fightback after Nathan Ake had earlier made it 4-2 with a header.
This was hardly what Pep Guardiola envisaged from his side and the Catalan set a number of unwanted records against the the Foxes.
Jamie Vardy becomes the first man to score two hat-tricks against Pep Guardiola
Pep Guardiola is widely regarded as the greatest manager in football history and while the ‘greatest’ tag is a matter of preference, Guardiola’s stellar managerial career is beyond reproach.
Given his standing in the game, it comes as no surprise that the Catalan is rarely on the end of harrowing defeats but this latest loss to Leicester City set precedents and new lows for the 49-year-old.
Throughout his long and illustrious coaching career, only one man has scored a league hat-trick against Pep Guardiola and Jamie Vardy made further history with another hat-trick in the 5-2 victory over Manchester City.
Jamie Vardy is the only player to score a league hat-trick against a Pep Guardiola team. Now he has two hat-tricks against them.
— Richard Jolly 🇺🇦 (@RichJolly) September 27, 2020
The first of those came in December 2016 – in Guardiola’s poor debut season in England – when a Vardy hat-trick helped power the Foxes to a 4-2 victory at the King Power Stadium.
The only other player to score three goals against a team coached by Pep Guardiola is Lionel Messi but the Barcelona icon did so in the Champions League, which serves as further proof of how remarkable what Jamie Vardy has achieved is.
His latest feat saw him draw level at the top of the scorers’ chart with Dominic Calvert-Lewin on five goals apiece and the Leicester man looks on course to retain his Premier League Golden Boot despite being 33 years of age.
Guardiola also set another unwanted record, as the five goals Leicester City put past his side means that he has conceded five goals at home in a league match for the first time in managerial his career, as well as the first time he would concede five goals in a single Premier League fixture.
Leicester become the first team to score five goals in a PL game against Pep Guardiola's Manchester City.
— Richard Jolly 🇺🇦 (@RichJolly) September 27, 2020
Manchester City are desperate to wrest the Premier League crown back from Liverpool but on evidence of their poor showing against Leicester City, they still have a lot of work to do if they are to catch up with Jurgen Klopp’s rampant Reds.
