Rodgers lauds ‘dream’ Vardy after double against Bournemouth

Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers hailed “dream” striker Jamie Vardy after his double downed Bournemouth.

The forward’s brace – including a brilliant lob – earned the Foxes a comfortable 3-1 home win.

Callum Wilson’s first goal of the season levelled for Bournemouth in the first half before Youri Tielemans’ restored Leicester’s advantage.

Victory moved the unbeaten hosts into third in the early Premier League table and Rodgers praised Vardy’s impact.

He said: “He was (unplayable) today. Obviously he is a dream to work with, he’s a player who can make a difference in this league.

“For a manager and a coach it’s amazing. He showed his quality, not just in his goals but if you look how hard he works, how he sets the team off and his hunger – everyone follows behind him.

“It was an amazing performance by him and the team showed their intensity.”

Vardy’s excellent 25-yard lob opened the scoring after 12 minutes but Wilson levelled three minutes later, steering in Ryan Fraser’s pass.

Tielemans grabbed his first goal since turning last season’s loan into a £40million permanent summer move when he stabbed in Vardy’s low cross just before the break.

Vardy then sealed the points with his third goal of the season from close range with 17 minutes left when Nathan Ake and Chris Mepham failed to clear.

Rodgers added: “Bournemouth came to win the game. Eddie Howe’s team are always offensive.

“The other teams sat on the edge of their 18-yard box so obviously space is limited and it’s very difficult.”

But Bournemouth boss Howe was upset VAR failed to act to send Tielemans off.

The midfielder went over the ball and caught Wilson on the ankle 10 minutes into the second half but escaped a red card after a VAR review.

Howe said: “I was close enough to see it live and it looked over the top, he missed the ball and it looked dangerous.

“From my view it was a dangerous and reckless challenge, I don’t know what VAR is thinking in terms of why they haven’t acted on it.

“I don’t think there’s intent but it’s happened. It’s not the reason why we lost but it could have changed the game at that stage.

“We have no complaints with the result, we only have ourselves to blame. We didn’t deal with Vardy well enough, he was a constant menace.”

Howe also felt the Cherries should have had a second-half penalty when Wilson was booked for diving under pressure from Caglar Soyuncu.

He added: “The fact he has gone down I thought it was a penalty, I need to check with Callum but I back the player’s integrity.”

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