Leeds United's championship hopes may well have died here yesterday with "Leicester City" written on their graves. Where Manchester United had strolled to victory a week earlier David O'Leary's team stumbled to a defeat which has left them seven points behind the Premiership leaders with eight matches to play.
Anything in football is possible but it is hard to see Leeds overtaking Alex Ferguson's side, who in addition to their points advantage have a markedly superior goal difference. "The best team are winning the championship," O'Leary conceded afterwards. "Our target all along has been to finish in the top three for a Champions League place." At least Leeds should satisfy that ambition, although their awareness of targets will need to show a distinct improvement on yesterday. Two shots from Harry Kewell, one hitting a post the other finding the net, were never going to be enough to get something from a fast, open game against a Leicester City team which had snapped out of its torpor of the previous weekend.
This was Leicester's first win since selling Emile Heskey to Liverpool for £11 million. Doleful defeats against Wimbledon and Manchester United had suggested that the loss of Heskey's speed and power might demoralise the whole side, but yesterday's performance argued otherwise.
Ironically the player who led Leicester out of their post-Heskey trough was Stan Collymore, who until recently was undergoing treatment for depression. Collymore produced a centre-forward's performance in the classical mould, holding the ball up, nodding it on, bringing colleagues into movements and, not least, giving his team the early lead which restored so much of Leicester's confidence.
When Kewell brought the scores level towards half-time Filbert Street braced itself for the sort of surge from Leeds which had overwhelmed Wimbledon at Elland Road seven days earlier. But the swiftness with which Leicester regained the lead in the second half, followed by the effectiveness of their midfield in breaking up the opposition's movements, ensured that Leeds rarely looked like getting back into the contest.
The industry and quick, economical distribution of Neil Lennon, Muzzy Izzet and Stefan Oakes forms the fulcrum of Martin O'Neill's side and Eirik Bakke and Stephen McPhail, who have been so effective for Leeds this season, seldom came to terms with the fact. As a result Leeds enjoyed considerably less possession than usual and when they did get the ball their movements became increasingly ragged.
In the last half-hour Leicester played with a swish and a swagger, keeping possession with ease and nonchalantly flicking the ball over the heads of opponents desperate to win it back. Thus did O'Neill's players purge memories of the recent humiliation by Manchester United.
Within three minutes it was obvious that Leicester were their old pragmatic selves again. Collymore unleashed a thunderous drive from 20 yards which Nigel Martyn could only parry and while Darren Eadie wafted the rebound over the bar the moment gave Leicester an initiative they never really surrendered.
Ten minutes later Eadie, gathering an astute pass from Collymore, crossed low towards Izzet who was denied a shot by Jonathan Woodgate's tackle. But in the next minute Izzet's through ball found Collymore running past Lucas Radebe to give Leicester the lead with an emphatic shot on the turn.
Midway through the first half a long pass from Alf-Inge Haaland gave Kewell a chance to outpace Leicester on the right. Cutting in, the Australian spotted a gap Tim Flowers had left at the near post but his shot found post instead of gap.
Leeds' hopes of salvation lay largely in Kewell's ability to take on defenders for skill and speed and in the 37th minute he collected a ball from Jason Wilcox and evaded Frank Sinclair and Gerry Taggart before beating Flowers from too acute an angle for the goalkeeper's peace of mind.
Leeds' relief did not last long. Two minutes into the second half a free-kick from Oakes on the right clipped a defender's head and fell to Steve Guppy, who met it beyond the far post with an assured shot back into the opposite corner of the net.
"Leicester's biggest strength is their setpieces," O'Leary grumbled. But yesterday his team were beaten by bigger hearts.
LEICESTER: Flowers, Sinclair (Gilchrist 48), Taggart, Guppy, Savage, Elliott, Izzet, Lennon, Oakes, Eadie (Cottee 66), Collymore. Subs Not Used: Marshall, Arphexad, Impey. Booked: Lennon, Collymore. Goals: Collymore 14, Guppy 48.
LEEDS: Martyn, Kelly, Radebe, Woodgate, Harte, Wilcox, Haaland, McPhail, Bakke, Bridges (Huckerby 71), Kewell. Subs Not Used: Robinson, Mills, Duberry, Maybury. Booked: Harte, Haaland. Goals: Kewell 38.
Referee: S Lodge (Barnsley).
