Declan Walsh

Tue 26 January 2021 14:57, UK

Leicester City will be without top goalscorer Jamie Vardy when Everton welcome the Foxes to Goodison Park on Wednesday night for their first Premier League match in two weeks.

Ahead of Everton versus Leicester, Brendan Rodgers confirmed via the Foxes’ official website that Vardy, 34, “will be out for a few weeks” as he undergoes minor hernia surgery, which serves as a major boost for the Toffees.

Vardy has scored 13 goals in 20 appearances across all competitions this season for Leicester and only Mohamed Salah, Harry Kane and Son Heung-min have scored more times than him in the Premier League.

Vardy has missed just one league game for the East Midlands outfit this season and that resulted in a 1-0 defeat to Aston Villa when Kelechi Iheanacho started up front.

Iheanacho, 24, is usually the striker Rodgers calls upon when Vardy is unavailable or is in need of a rest but he’s scored just three times in 19 total outings this season and Leicester, as a whole, look worse with the Nigerian in their attack rather than the ex-England international.

According to stats by Wyscout,  Iheanacho’s xG in the Premier League this term is 0.37 per 90 minutes compared to Vardy’s 0.72. And when you look at the match against Aston Villa, you can see why Leicester struggle so much without their talismanic forward.

Below is one of Leicester’s attacks against Villa when Iheanacho found himself on the ball. He has as one team-mate ahead of him in an offside position but there are two others running at the Villa defence.

Instead of passing, the Nigerian striker, hits a tame effort at goal from outside the penalty area.

If that was Vardy in that situation, we’re sure that he would have found another way for Leicester to have a go at goal.

All of Vardy’s Premier League goals this season have come from inside the penalty area.

In fact, the image below, via Wyscout, show that Vardy’s only made two attempts at goal from outside the penalty box this season.

He’s also assisted five Premier League goals and that is because he knows when to shoot and when to pass.

Below is one of Vardy’s chances in Leicester’s 3-0 win over Brighton last month.

Ayoze Perez plays the ball through to Vardy, who looks to be in a strong goalscoring position once he’s about to latch onto the pass.

However, as Vardy reaches the ball, he realises very fast that he’s not in a prime position to score and uses his first took to pass the ball back to James Maddison, who eventually scores himself.

Vardy is way more than just a goalscorer because he sees the bigger picture every time he has the ball up front.

Iheanacho is 10 years Vardy’s junior so he has far less experience under his belt but the fact the ex-Manchester City man is set to start versus Everton on Wednesday is a major boost to Carlo Ancelotti’s chances of winning the game.

Going back to Leicester’s loss to Aston Villa, Iheanacho also showed that he’s quite a static and easy-to-mark striker.

As the play progresses, he ends up with his back to goal and hardly moving to help continue shape Leicester’s attack.

Leicester’s Harvey Barnes then attempts to play a pass to Iheanacho but the ball is cut out by an Aston Villa defender.

Iheanacho’s lack of movement made a promising Leicester attack look so easy to defend for Aston Villa and that’s something the Toffees can profit from this week.

Leicester are going to be a tough team to get anything against but without Vardy, they’re a beast that can be tamed a lot easier.

Without Vardy, they’re a team Everton can beat and even keep a clean sheet against as Ancelotti’s men go in search of qualification for European football this season.

In other Everton news, Ancelotti’s shared some injury news on the Blues ahead of their clash with Leicester.