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Leicester wins maiden premier league crown

ABC

ABC

Leicester City has won the Premier League title after Chelsea held Tottenham Hotspur to a 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge.

With Leicester’s players reportedly gathered at the home of striker Jamie Vardy to watch the match, goals from Harry Kane and Son Heung-Min at Stamford Bridge appeared to have set Spurs up for a victory that would have kept their title hopes alive.

Tottenham looked in complete control at 2-0 up and on course for a first win at the home of Chelsea in a generation, only for the now-deposed champions to roar back into life.

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Spurs looked nervous at set pieces and so it proved as the ball fell fortunately for Gary Cahill to prod home from a corner.

Eden Hazard then met Diego Costa’s pass with a first-time shot into the top-right corner in the 83rd minute to send hordes of supporters in Leicester, as well as their millions of new admirers around the world, into raptures.

The result means Leicester has an unassailable seven-point lead with two games remaining in the season, completing a fairytale title for the Foxes in one of football’s most unlikely title triumphs.

Leicester City, famously coming in to the season at 5000-1 odds to win the premiership, looming more as relegation favourites than title hopefuls, defied the odds and footballing logic to win a maiden top-flight title on a minnow’s budget.

The Foxes, who last season only narrowly avoided relegation to England’s second tier, yesterday drew 1-1 with Manchester United at Old Trafford, a point that ultimately sealed the title.

“Claudio Ranieri and his players have captured the imaginations of football fans around the world with the most brilliant and unlikely sporting triumphs ever seen,” Leicester said in a statement on its website shortly after.

There was bedlam in Leicester pubs as Foxes fans watched on before celebrating Chelsea's draw with Spurs.

There was bedlam in Leicester pubs as Foxes fans watched on before celebrating Chelsea’s draw with Spurs. Photo: ABC

“From a team that spent the majority of last season rooted to the bottom of the table and among the favourites for relegation this term, a combination of team spirit, hard work and talent has seen them transform into champions.”

Leicester is England’s first new title winner since Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest 1978 and its surge to glory in the world’s most-watched football championship will go down as one of the most improbable feats in sporting history.

Its previous best season in the English top flight was a second-place finish in 1929 and its last piece of silverware was the 2000 League Cup.

“Congratulations to Leicester because they have been superb this year,” said John Terry, the Chelsea captain.

“[Ranieri] has been different class. To do what they have done has been unbelievable and given hope to the smaller sides.”

Mauricio Pochettino’s young Spurs team needed to win all three of its final games to stand any chance of claiming a first league title since 1961, but having been held 1-1 by West Bromwich Albion on its previous outing, it failed to close out victory again.

Leicester fans celebrate.

Leicester fans celebrate. Photo: ABC

Ranieri had never previously won a league title and was sacked by Chelsea in 2004, but chants of “There’s only one Ranieri!” rang around the game as the final whistle approached.

Bringing the story of his association with the Premer League full circle, the 64-year-old Italian will return to Stamford Bridge for his miracle team’s final game of the season on May 15.

Hazard, last season’s Player of the Year, had scored the goal that brought Chelsea the title a year previously and after a dismal campaign, he resurfaced to write another chapter in English football history.

Spurs, meanwhile, could face disciplinary action from the Football Association after midfielder Mousa Dembele appeared to eye-gouge Diego Costa in one of several fractious incidents.

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