Antonio Conte endured a miserable return to the Tottenham dug-out after gall bladder surgery as Leicester stand-in skipper James Maddison inspired his side to an important win to move away from the relegation zone.
After Rodrgio Bentancur had capitalised on an error from Leicester defender Victor Kristiansen, Leicester scored twice in three minutes to lead through Nampalys Mendy’s brilliant first goal for the club and Maddison’s cool finish in his first game as captain deputising for Youri Tielemans.
Kelechi Iheanacho then added a third in first-half injury-time as a gaunt Conte forlornly tried to rouse his troops from the technical area after his enforced absence for an operation in Italy. Harvey Barnes scored a late fourth as his Foxes took their goal tally to eight in two matches.
Questions were, again, being asked of the Foxes and boss Brendan Rodgers after four defeats in five but they have answered any lingering doubts.
Victory even came after a dodgy start where the hosts gifted Tottenham a 14th-minute opener.
But it was only a brief reprieve for Leicester and the defender as, from another corner, Kristiansen made a total mess of his clearance and only succeeded in finding Bentancur who tapped in from close range.
Spurs were on top but it took just 11 minutes for the Foxes to turn the game. They had barely threatened but levelled out of the blue through an unlikely source.
Mendy had not scored in his previous 108 Leicester appearances after joining in 2016 but when Bentancur’s header reached the midfielder on the edge of the box he unleashed an angled rocket which flew past Fraser Forster.
Two minutes later it got better for the hosts and captain for the day Maddison.
Live Score reports that Ben Davies’ loose pass was cleared by Wout Faes to Iheanacho – left in a ridiculous amount of space – who turned and found the unmarked Maddison to sweep in his ninth goal of the season.
Leicester were suddenly rampant and Forster kept out Iheanacho as the Spurs defence imploded.
It was a game littered with errors and Spurs added another gaffe to the catalogue when the Foxes went 3-1 up in first-half injury time.
Harry Souttar launched a clearance upfield and Iheanacho was given too much space to run at Eric Dier. He checked inside to the edge of the area, dummied and then found the bottom corner.
Ragged Tottenham hardly improved after the break and Forster needed to save from Barnes.
There was never a suggestion the visitors were going to recover and even Harry Kane – with 15 goals in 19 Premier League games against Leicester – was nullified.
With 20 minutes left the visitors needed VAR to rescue them when Barnes converted Iheanacho’s pass – but there was no stopping the winger adding a fourth and sealing victory 11 minutes later.
The generous Tottenham defence first allowed Maddison to advance and slip Barnes in with the England man turning and beating Forster from 20 yards.
