Vardy the Man for the Big Occasion
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Jamie Vardy made his return to Premier League action on Sunday evening as Leicester City travelled to play Arsenal.
The striker was forced to miss a couple of games due to a calf problem but was available as a substitute to Brendan Rodgers. Vardy entered the fray on the hour mark at the Emirates Stadium and it took only 20 minutes for him to leave his stamp on the game. The 34-year-old scored the only goal of the match to hand Leicester City an excellent 1-0 victory.
Although it was considered a shock result, the fact it was Vardy who found the back of the net did not come as a surprise. In 12 Premier League matches against Arsenal, Vardy has now scored 11 goals. Vardy has 109 Premier League goals to his name, meaning his is currently level with Ryan Giggs. However, it is worth keeping in mind Vardy made his Football League debut at the age of 25, so had plenty of catching up to do in order to match a player like Giggs.
A look at the statistics shows Vardy is a player who rises to the big occasion. He clearly loves playing against Arsenal but also has an extremely good goalscoring record against some of the other top teams in the Premier League. Vardy has scored 8 goals in 13 appearances against Manchester City plus 7 goals in 11 games against Liverpool. Vardy also has 6 goals in 10 matches against Everton.
Let us not forget this is a man who finished as the Premier League top goal scorer last season and he is sure to pass Ian Wright in the all-time Premier League goal scorers chart soon. Vardy scored 18 goals in the 2018/19 season, 20 the season before, and 24 goals in 2015/16. Yet when the discussion starts about who is the greatest striker in the history of the Premier League, Vardy rarely seems to get a mention.
At the time of writing, Vardy has a strike rate of 0.5 goals per game, this is superior to many players who are often talked about as being some of the best to grace the Premier League. Vardy’s current strike rate is better than Didier Drogba, Romelu Lukaku, Dwight Yorke, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Les Ferdinand, Michael Owen, Jermain Defoe, Robbie Fowler, Andy Cole, and Wayne Rooney.
Vardy has 6 goals to his name this season, from only 5 games played. It is a great record but perhaps the most startling statistic is the fact Vardy has had only 8 shots, giving him an 88% shooting accuracy plus a 75% goal conversion rate.
There are players above Vardy with the bookmakers in the race for the Golden Boot this season, including Mohamed Salah and Harry Kane. However, Vardy is showing clinical form and loves to mix it with the best teams. It would take a brave person to back against him being crowned top goal scorer again this season.
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