Ayoze Perez makes Jamie Vardy better and Leicester title contenders

Ayoze Perez is the catalyst behind Leicester’s genuine challenge for the Premier League title.

Ayoze Perez has experienced quite a journey in recent months. The Spaniard has gone from inconsistent outcast at Newcastle to becoming the catalyst for Leicester’s Premier League title bid.

Any doubts there were about the validity of the Foxes’ challenge were swept aside by Friday’s 9-0 win away to Southampton.

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It was a game where Perez opened his Leicester account in style, netting a brilliant hat-trick and matching the exploits of strike partner Jamie Vardy.

Before the trip to St Mary’s Stadium, Leicester fans could be forgiven for wondering why the club invested £30 million in the mercurial forward. Perez may have been reconsidering if he was right to scurry away from the Magpies in the wake of former manager Rafa Benitez moving to China.

There are no doubts any more after Perez proved why he makes Leicester and Vardy better. It’s no coincidence Vardy has now scored six goals in the last three league matches Perez started.

By contrast, Leicester’s No. 9 drew a blank when Perez stayed on the bench for 73 minutes of the 2-1 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield. It’s the Foxes only reversal in the last six matches in all competitions, and solid proof of how Vardy benefits from Perez being in the lineup.

Specifically, Perez’s ability to play wide and drift centrally changes the shape of Leicester’s formation with and without the ball. His movement and versatility are keys to the fluid game Brendan Rodgers wants his team to play.

When Perez stays wide right, the Foxes are able to keep their classic 4-1-4-1 shape. They can double up on the flank, where Perez and raiding right-back Ricardo Pereira draw a crowd.

In possession, the overload on the wings helps take opposition players out of the middle. It opens up space for cultured No. 10s James Maddison and Youri Tielemans.

The latter had the freedom of the middle, particularly the pockets on the inside right, all night against the Saints. Leicester’s game flows through Maddison and Tielemans, so the more time they have on the ball the better chances they can create.

It showed for Leicester’s third goal when a link-up between Pereira and Perez on the right drew the attention of three Southampton players. Tielemans then had room to get behind Saints’ holding midfielders Oriol Romeu and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.

Perez carried the ball inside and played a neat one-two with Tielemans against a back three stretched out of shape. The former Tenerife attacker finished emphatically for his maiden Leicester goal.

There’s another side to the dual role Perez plays. When the ball is on his side of the pitch, he stays wide, but when the ball is on the left, Perez moves into the middle.

His movement from out to in created his second and Leicester’s fourth. The move began with Perez collecting a long ball from Jonny Evans on the right wing.

He then exchanged passes with Pereira and Tielemans, with the latter working the ball over to Ben Chilwell. As the left-back received the ball, Perez made his run from out to in and met the defender’s arcing cross with an emphatic finish on the half-volley.

Perez had room to exploit because Southampton left-back Yan Valery’s eyes had followed the ball being moved across the pitch. A position out on the wing allows Perez to lull defenders into plenty of similar lapses in concentration.

Things can be just as tough when defenders are aware of Perez. Valery had one eye on the 26-year-old when Vardy doubled his tally and scored Leicester’s seventh goal.

Southampton’s back three had shuffled toward left winger Harvey Barnes and Chilwell. With Jannik Vetsergaard and Jan Bednarek moving out toward the Foxes’ duo on the flank, Vardy was left isolated against Maya Yoshida inside the area.

Valery needed to move and bracket Vardy, but the Frenchman kept turning to track the movement of Perez. It left Vardy with an easy, uncontested header from Chilwell’s cross.

The goal highlighted why Perez is the strike partner Vardy has needed for a while. He’s now getting more space to focus on being the ruthless and efficient finisher the Foxes need him to be.

With Perez, Tielemans and Maddison in support, Vardy doesn’t have to be heavily involved to still get his goals.

Vardy tops the scoring charts in England’s top flight with nine goals. The number is the result of the growing influence of Perez in a team built to boss the ball and attack in numbers.

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Leicester are third and have the firepower to maintain a burgeoning title challenge. The Perez and Vardy double act will be how Rodgers’ men keep pace with Manchester City and Liverpool.