Brendan Rodgers confident Jamie Vardy will be fit for Foxes’ festive fixtures

Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers expects Jamie Vardy to be fit for the festive period after he came off in the 2-0 win at Tottenham.

The striker spearheaded the Foxes to victory, putting them ahead from the spot before the break with his 11th goal of the season and then setting up the second as he forced Toby Alderweireld’s own goal.

But he did not last the 90 minutes, with Rodgers taking him off to protect an on-going hip issue.

With no game now until Boxing Day, the boss is not expecting any problems.

“That’s the same injury but we’ve got a week now which is really nice. We haven’t had too many of them,” he said.

“It will give him a chance to recover and hopefully he will be okay for next weekend.”

Vardy was at his best against Spurs, clinical from the spot and causing problems with his running and pressing.

“He is one of the best strikers in the world and what he does there is not many better,” Rodgers added. “There are different types of strikers, Jamie’s strength is on the last line, threatening the back line.

“His biggest thing is he has no ego, he puts the work in, he’s not frightened to do the dirty work, he runs, he presses, tactically he’s very good.

“Then in the pressure moments, with the penalty he sticks that away. He must be horrible to play against as a centre-half knowing he is running across you, behind you, his movement is so clever and that is why he is at this level in the most competitive league in the world.

“I can’t speak highly enough of him, he is a great guy.”

For Tottenham it was a second successive defeat, which raises questions over their credentials to challenge for the title.

The manner of their display also increases the focus on Jose Mourinho’s style of play as they again struggled to create chances against a good Foxes side.

Mourinho said his team were damaged by a sluggish start.

“The fact that we didn’t start well isn’t because I told the players not to start well,” he said when asked whether his side need to be more proactive.

“Don’t get me wrong. Don’t get me wrong. I didn’t tell any player, ‘Don’t be proactive’ or ‘Be reactive’.

“But I admit we did start bad, yeah, we did start bad.

“(In the second half) they didn’t trouble us too. They scored, Toby an own goal, and I don’t remember anything else.

“I remember (Kasper) Schmeichel making a phenomenal save with Sonny on the far post and us being dominant and trying. I agree with you, we didn’t create 15 chances in the second half.

“But they’re a good team, they know how to defend, drop the lines back and they created difficulties with their defensive organisation.”