Tottenham beaten by Leicester in top-of-table clash

Updated: May 17, 2023, 05:11 am

Tottenham Hotspur dropped points on Sunday after conceding a penalty and an own goal to Leicester City in a 2-0 defeat.

Jamie Vardy converted the spot kick toward the end of the first half while a Toby Alderweireld own goal early in the second extended Leicester's advantage.

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Leicester were awarded a penalty three minutes into first-half stoppage time when Serge Aurier barged into Wesley Fofana and brought him down. Vardy stepped up to take the spot kick and converted it down the middle.

"Today he made a mistake but before his mistake in minute 45 or 46 we had other players making mistakes in other areas of the pitch. I can't blame a player for a mistake," Mourinho said of the penalty after the game. 

"I'm frustrated when I lose but it's not like there is a target that cannot be achieved. Our target is to win the next match and the result of the previous matches they don't interfere in our target for the next match."

"Serge was phenomenal against Liverpool, probably our best player but today he made this mistake," Mourinho later told Sky Sports. "Did this mistake cost us the three points? I think it is unfair to say that."

Mourinho said it was unfair to point the finger at Aurier, and others in the team did not show the right attitude.

"If I have to talk about individuals, I could go in other directions where the attitude was not the attitude that I like," he said.

Leicester seemed to have scored their second goal two minutes into the second half when James Maddison slotted the ball home.

Leicester celebrate
Leicester celebrate
Andy Rain - Pool/Getty Images

A VAR review, however, showed he had been marginally offside when the through-ball was played and the goal was disallowed.

There was no such uncertainty 12 minutes later, when Marc Albrighton crossed a ball into the box that Vardy got a head to. Vardy's header careened off the knee of Alderweireld into the back of the Spurs goal.

"We've come here with a game plan and we've absolutely nailed what we wanted to do," Vardy told Sky Sports.

"It's set us on the way to get the three points that we think we deserved.

"It obviously shows we're doing something wrong in our home games. We need to get these performances going in week, week out and hopefully pick up some more wins."