Red-hot Leicester duo Vardy and Mahrez go head-to-head with Everton double-act

The Leicester pair have set the pace but Romelu Lukaku and Gerard Deulofeu are not far behind

 

THE focus will be drawn to the double act illuminating the challenge from a team in blue, yet for once Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez will only share top billing.

 

Romelu Lukaku and Gerard Deulofeu have picked up the gauntlet thrown down by the Premier League's in-form duo and when Everton collide with Leicester on Saturday, they will be intent on raising their own numbers to even more eye-catching levels.

While Vardy and Mahrez have set the pace with 26 goals between this them season to lift Claudio Ranieri's side to the unexpected and dizzying heights of the summit, the productivity from the Lukaku-Deulofeu axis is fast becoming almost as impressive.

"The comparison is true," said Ranieri. "I am so happy with Mahrez and Vardy, but we have to be very careful about this good combination from Everton."

 

Lukaku has 15 goals (12 in the league) with eight of them direct assists from the dashing young Spaniard whose nimble footwork is leading opponents a merry dance.

Knowing that Deulofeu will deliver a pass with unerring accuracy to the Belgium striker is one thing, whether it is a pinpoint cross as against Norwich last week or a threaded 40-yard pass that helped peg back West Ham recently. Preventing it is quite another.

Everton manager Roberto Martinez provided an insight into how the understanding between the pair has developed, saying: "Those partnerships start on a talent level. They don't start on a human level with you getting on with the other person, having breakfast together or anything like that.

 

Deulofeu celebrates with Lukaku as the Belgian striker opened the scoring against Norwich

 

"The way it develops is in training, maybe in a five-a-side where you have an action where you make a run, the other one sees you and then all of a sudden it's just something that you constantly look for. Rom now knows that if he makes a run the ball is going to come. Then the next one Gerard is going to look for him because he knows he's going to make that run.

"It's levels of intelligence and talent that allows you to develop a partnership."

While Vardy and Mahrez have monopolised Leicester's goals return, Martinez does not perceive their link-up as pure as that of Lukaku and Deulofeu given the counter-attacking nature of Ranieri's side. Yet he has been suitably impressed enough to suggest that if the pairing avoid injury then the surprise story of this term can be prolonged.

 

"When you have the ball and have to break a team down, partnerships are very important," said Martinez.

"The biggest amount of goals Leicester have scored have been from counter attacks because they are so dynamic. They have an incredible counter attack, the best, and I don't think with counter attack you are relying on individuals.

"Vardy is probably the performer of the season so far, but Mahrez is the main provider and then you have [N'Golo] Kante that nobody expected and he is influential.

"The way they play is so competitive and so dynamic, they open games up and they're always in games, they go 2-0 down they go 2-2. That's about having a competitive edge that isn't reliant on individuals.

 

"If they were going to lose someone like Vardy or Mahrez it's not like the other top four teams who might have like-for-like replacements and over 10 months of competition that's the only thing that's going to stop them. "But if this team is going to play for the next 20 games, they're going to be there or thereabouts."

Back in August there would have been those who thought Everton could do what Leicester have done, but two wins in their last nine league games (there have been only two defeats) illustrate where the problem lies.

Martinez rejects the notion they are too reliant on their twin terrors.

 

"Obviously with those two, opponents will start trying to stop them but that leaves open spaces for others, so we are quite aware of what the opposition is trying to do because other players will benefit," he said.

"Last year, most of the teams were concentrating on Ross [Barkley] and that's opened space for Geri this season. It's very difficult to stop everything, which is why we are so strong going forward because it's not just one option or one partnership."

Whoever scores he hopes Leicester will find out just that.