100 FOR VARDY as Leicester City Remain on Course for Europe

With a 3-0 win yesterday against Crystal Palace Jamie Vardy scored his 100th and 101st Premier League goals, becoming the 29th player since 1992 to bag the centurial figure. 

Flashback in time: it’s the 31^ST August 2014, and Jamie Vardy makes his Premier League debut as an obscure player, widely known in the lower leagues of English football. As he pulled on the Leicester City shirt this time around though there was a Premier League badge on his sleeve; as a second-half substitute against Arsenal at the age of 27 years young. Who would have predicted that almost six years on he would go on to net 100? This feat, thought of by many former professionals as a difficult milestone to reach, even for the greatest of strikers has now been achieved by just 29 players since the Premier League was created in 1992. How does Vardy compare to the rest of these lads, then? 

He has now become the second-oldest player to score his first premier league goal (27) and go on to score 100. In the top spot is the former Arsenal icon Ian Wright, who was 28. Another amazing statistic is that Vardy has one of the best goals to game ratio of all other 28 players. His 101 goals in 206 games (0.49 goals per game) is only bettered by the likes of Alan Shearer, Sergio Aguero, Thierry Henry, Robin Van Persie, Harry Kane, and already mentioned Ian Wright.

The Jovial striker previously went three games without scoring and bagged a brace against struggling Crystal Palace yesterday, the now 33-year-old helped Leicester City bag another win continuing to help them reach a Champions League spot for next season with a 3-0 victory. With Kelechi Iheanacho striking first blood early in the second half Vardy's performance was closely looked at by the BBC’s Match of the Days analyst Martin Keown and noted that he appeared to be ‘hungry’ for goals given his body language when he missed easy opportunities in the first half. Keown then went on to say that once he scored his first goal after capitalizing on poor defensive play looked more energetic and fired up, in that case he went to score his second of the game, taking his total tally to 101 and overtaking the prolific goalscoring machine Matt Le Tissier by one goal.

Jamie Vardy started out his playing days in the Seventh tier of the English Football League system with FC Halifax Town and was purchased by Leicester City in the 2012-2013 season when they were playing in the Championship. His rising fame and progress as a footballer may have come late but it is remarkable to imagine how many goals he could have scored had other top teams had noticed his ability from an early age. The current record for Premier League goals scored is held by Alan Shearer with 260, Vardy has 101 in the space of six years but is now 33 years of age. It’s hard to think he wouldn’t have gone on to pass that tally had he started out as a Premier League player in his teens.

Leicester City are currently sitting 3^rd in the Premier League Table and is evident that Brendan Rodgers appointment as manager is paying off well. After winning the Premier League back in 2016, the foxes’ expectations were always going to be difficult to maintain, with a European qualification as a cornerstone would suffice thereafter but have failed to do so since. It would surprise a few to see that aim falling short now, with five matches left they are looking more than comfortable to compete for at least a Europa League space next season, and still on course for the Champions League if results continue to go their way and may have to count on Vardy to carry on doing his thing to get there.