{"id":6522,"date":"2016-05-02T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-05-02T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/2016\/05\/02\/longshot-leicester-city-wins-english-premier-league-title\/"},"modified":"2016-05-02T23:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-05-02T23:00:00","slug":"longshot-leicester-city-wins-english-premier-league-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/longshot-leicester-city-wins-english-premier-league-title\/","title":{"rendered":"Longshot Leicester City Wins English Premier League Title"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Laura Wagner<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n

\"Leicester<\/a><\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n
\n
\n

Leicester City players who had gathered at Jamie Vardy’s house to watch title rival Tottenham play Chelsea celebrate after clinching the trophy. Plumb Images\/Getty Images<\/strong> hide caption<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

toggle caption<\/strong> Plumb Images\/Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

In what’s being hailed as a “miracle<\/a>” and the “best story in sports<\/a>,” Leicester City, a small club from central England that started the season at 5,000-1 odds of winning the prestigious English Premier League title, has clinched the trophy.<\/p>\n

On Monday, with two games still left in the season, the league-leading Foxes secured their place in history when second place Tottenham failed to beat Chelsea.<\/p>\n

It’s the first top-tier title for Leicester in the club’s 132-year history. The club is only the sixth since 1992 to win the title. It had only a fraction of the money commanded by top clubs and its leading scorer, Jamie Vardy, was playing in England’s lower divisions while working at a factory<\/a>. Having spent most of last season languishing near the bottom of the league rankings, the club’s meteoric rise to the top is breathtaking.<\/p>\n

Leicester had the chance to secure the title on Sunday with a win over Manchester United. But it played to a disappointing 1-1 draw, leaving the door open for second-place Tottenham in the title race.<\/p>\n

For the beginning of Monday’s game, it looked as if Leicester’s fairy-tale ending had been delayed again.<\/p>\n

Tottenham took a 2-0 lead in the first half thanks to goals from the league’s top scorer, Harry Kane, and midfielder Son Heung-Min. But Chelsea defender Gary Cahill managed to slot home a goal in the 58th minute and Eden Hazard tied the game with a rocket to the upper-right corner in the 83rd.<\/p>\n

The game was physical and emotions ran high as scuffles flared repeatedly on the pitch. A total of 12 yellow cards<\/a> were handed out, nine of which went to Tottenham. The Hotspurs had a few promising chances near the end of the game, but Chelsea held on, sealing the deal for Leicester.<\/p>\n

The crowd at Chelsea’s home field, Stamford Bridge, chanted “Leicester, Leicester,” as the final whistle drew near.<\/p>\n

Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri made headlines when he said he might not be watching the crucial game because he would be having lunch with his 96-year-old mother<\/a>. The Leicester players, though, watched at Vardy’s house. Here’s the video<\/a> of the moment they won the trophy, tweeted by Leicester defender Christian Fuchs.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

CHAMPIONS!!!! pic.twitter.com\/pFtvo5XUNx<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Christian Fuchs (@FuchsOfficial) May 2, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

Let’s block ads!<\/a><\/strong> (Why?)<\/a><\/p>\n

Source:: http:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/thetwo-way\/2016\/05\/02\/476498542\/longshot-leicester-city-win-english-premiere-league-title?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=sports<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"Leicester<\/a><\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n
\n
\n

Leicester City players who had gathered at Jamie Vardy’s house to watch title rival Tottenham play Chelsea celebrate after clinching the trophy. Plumb Images\/Getty Images<\/strong> hide caption<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

toggle caption<\/strong> Plumb Images\/Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

In what’s being hailed as a “miracle<\/a>” and the “best story in sports<\/a>,” Leicester City, a small club from central England that started the season at 5,000-1 odds of winning the prestigious English Premier League title, has clinched the trophy.<\/p>\n

On Monday, with two games still left in the season, the league-leading Foxes secured their place in history when second place Tottenham failed to beat Chelsea.<\/p>\n

It’s the first top-tier title for Leicester in the club’s 132-year history. The club is only the sixth since 1992 to win the title. It had only a fraction of the money commanded by top clubs and its leading scorer, Jamie Vardy, was playing in England’s lower divisions while working at a factory<\/a>. Having spent most of last season languishing near the bottom of the league rankings, the club’s meteoric rise to the top is breathtaking.<\/p>\n

Leicester had the chance to secure the title on Sunday with a win over Manchester United. But it played to a disappointing 1-1 draw, leaving the door open for second-place Tottenham in the title race.<\/p>\n

For the beginning of Monday’s game, it looked as if Leicester’s fairy-tale ending had been delayed again.<\/p>\n

Tottenham took a 2-0 lead in the first half thanks to goals from the league’s top scorer, Harry Kane, and midfielder Son Heung-Min. But Chelsea defender Gary Cahill managed to slot home a goal in the 58th minute and Eden Hazard tied the game with a rocket to the upper-right corner in the 83rd.<\/p>\n

The game was physical and emotions ran high as scuffles flared repeatedly on the pitch. A total of 12 yellow cards<\/a> were handed out, nine of which went to Tottenham. The Hotspurs had a few promising chances near the end of the game, but Chelsea held on, sealing the deal for Leicester.<\/p>\n

The crowd at Chelsea’s home field, Stamford Bridge, chanted “Leicester, Leicester,” as the final whistle drew near.<\/p>\n

Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri made headlines when he said he might not be watching the crucial game because he would be having lunch with his 96-year-old mother<\/a>. The Leicester players, though, watched at Vardy’s house. Here’s the video<\/a> of the moment they won the trophy, tweeted by Leicester defender Christian Fuchs.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

CHAMPIONS!!!! pic.twitter.com\/pFtvo5XUNx<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Christian Fuchs (@FuchsOfficial) May 2, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

Let’s block ads!<\/a><\/strong> (Why?)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[221],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6522\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}