Pep Guardiola hails Leicester City's number nine as "exceptional"

Jamie Vardy has been struggling for goals in 2020 but Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola hailed the Leicester striker as a striker with “exceptional” qualities. 

Guardiola’s team travel to the King Power Stadium to take on Leicester City, the against-all-odds 2015/16 Premier League champions, whose success has owed plenty to Vardy’s goals. 

It is a battle of the second against the third in this season’s top flight, with Guardiola’s team currently four points ahead of Brendan Rodgers’ Foxes. 

Vardy is the leading Premier League goalscorer with 17 goals in 24 appearances, putting him one ahead of Guardiola’s star marksman Sergio Aguero. The Argentine is having a wonderful 2020 and Guardiola hopes that his form continues.

Guardiola also agreed that Vardy’s success against his team in the past has been due to the high defensive line the speedy striker has been able to exploit. 

He said, “Because we play 40 metres in front, it’s perfect for him. Jamie Vardy scored goals against us and against all the teams, because in the box, in the final third, he’s exceptional.”

Vardy has netted five times in 11 Premier League games against City, no one has scored more top-flight goals against a Guardiola side across his spells in charge of Barcelona, Bayern Munich and the defending English champions. 

Praising the striker Pep said, “He’s one of the better strikers I’ve ever seen in movement, in finishing, in high pressing. In many things, he’s an exceptional player.”

However, the 33-year-old is also suffering from a goal drought at the moment, having not netted in his last eight games, six of which have been league fixtures. 

Leicester have been going through a  sticky patch collectively but still, sit nine points ahead of fourth-placed Chelsea going into the weekend.

Guardiola knows that there could be a flip of fortunes for the Foxes, with Leicester having shown in the first half of the season what a strong unit they are. He has evidently done an impressive job since taking over as the manager at the King's Power Stadium. 

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