Premier League Round 14: The good, the bad and the ugly

The Good

Broken Record

Jamie Vardy did it. From non-league footballer to Premier League record holder, Vardy has defied the odds on numerous occasions throughout the past year or so.

Entering last weekend’s matchup with Manchester United, Vardy needed to score a goal to break former Red Devils’ striker Ruud van Nistlerooy’s Premier League record of scoring a goal in 10 consecutive league matches.

Manchester United were set to take a corner kick, which Leicester City dealt with before launching a counter-attack. Due to the large number of players sent forward to win a header, Manchester United were light in defense.

Ashley Young and Matteo Darmian got back, but that was not enough to stop Leicester City. Young made a poor decision in attempting to play Vardy offside instead of getting goal-side of the in-form striker.

The ball was played forward into the box and Vardy was able to sneak it past David De Gea and into the far corner of the net.

Just like that the record was broken against the former holder’s club.

Vardy then took off running while shouting expletives all the way down the field and repeatedly pointing at himself. It was a strange celebration for sure. I guess he wanted to make sure everyone knew it was his record, and his alone.

Anyways, not to harp on the celebration, it was a great moment for a player who could have easily slipped through the cracks and never had his chance in the Premier League.

Now that Vardy has broken the Premier League record for consecutive matches with a goal, he will have his sights set on tying and breaking the English record.

Jimmy Dunne, while playing for Sheffield United, scored in 12 straight matches from the end of 1931 into early 1932.

Standing in Vardy’s way this weekend is … well, not much resistance in theory. Leicester City face Swansea City this weekend, who continue to struggle mightily. The Swans are 1-3-6 in their previous 10 Premier League fixtures.

Combine Leicester City’s great form with Swansea City’s poor form and it should add up to a victory for The Foxes, but that is why they play the game. You never know what can happen. It would not make any sense for Swansea City to keep Vardy from scoring and Leicester City from winning, but strange things happen a lot in the Premier League.

The Final Moments of Bournemouth v. Everton

Remember Bournemouth’s match with Swansea City from last week? The Cherries took a two-goal lead early, but allowed two goals before halftime.

Well, their start to the match against Everton could not have been worse. Inside the first 36 minutes they were already down 2-0 after Ramiro Funes Mori and Romelulu Lukaku both scored goals.

The game would stay at 2-0 for quite a while before things took a turn for the crazy. Adam Smith gave the home supporters hope of a comeback when he scored a phenomenal, amazing and downright unbelievable goal from outside of the box. The swerve on his shot was incredible. This goal might have been even better than Matt Ritchie’s screamer from earlier during the season.

Seven minutes later Bournemouth would find the tying goal from an unlikely source in Junior Stanislas. It was his first Premier League goal.

From there the game went deep into injury time when Ross Barkley appeared to win it with a 95th minute goal.

The Everton supporters, in a momentary lapse in judgement, decided to storm the field as if this was a wild and crazy NCAA basketball upset. It was quite a baffling scene as this was hardly a legendary moment in the history of Everton Football Club, which, mind you, is very long.

Eventually, the game got underway again and even more injury time had to be added on due to the fans on the pitch.

The extra time was just enough to send the home supporters into a much deserved, and much less ridiculous, pandemonium when Stanislas scored AGAIN from a close range header.

Bad luck Bournemouth were on the good end of luck, for once. They still find themselves down several key players and in the relegation zone by two point, but maybe the Everton result is the shot in the arm they need to get momentum heading in a positive direction. Only time will tell.

Next: The Bad