This Week In History: Elliott's League Cup Final Brace, Drinkwater's Liverpool Stunner & Kane's Foxes Opener

Heritage
01 Mar 2020
2 Minutes
Leicester City lifted the League Cup for the third time, while also sealing memorable league victories, during the week between 24 February and 1 March across the Club's history.

On Sunday 27 February, 2000, Martin O'Neill and Leicester City headed to Wembley Stadium in London for their third League Cup Final in four seasons.

While the Foxes had defeated Middlesbrough in 1997, the 1999 defeat by Tottenham Hotspur, courtesy of a last-ditch header from Allan Nielsen, had hurt O'Neill's side.

John Aldridge's Tranmere Rovers were the opponents as City launched a bid to become the last-ever side to lift the League Cup beneath the old Twin Towers before Wembley's rebuild.

Leicester had overcome Crystal Palace, Grimsby Town, Leeds United, Fulham and Aston Villa to reach the showpiece final and it was their captain who would be the hero against Tranmere.

Matt Elliott, who headed the winner against Villa at the semi-final stage, nodded two more efforts at Wembley to seal victory for the Foxes, despite David Kelly's second half strike for Rovers.

Following the 20th anniversary of that day on Thursday, the Blue Army can now enjoy a feature-length documentary from LCFC TV - 20 Years On: Leicester's League Cup Triumph - by clicking HERE.

Thirteen years later, Nigel Pearson's first full season back in charge of the Foxes, following a short spell at Hull City, saw them launch a bid for promotion back to the Premier League.

Five wins in a row over the festive period had seen City climb into the automatic promotion places, but the visit of Blackburn Rovers was preceded by three games without a league victory.

While their form would continue to stutter afterwards, the Foxes got back to winning ways with an authoritative 3-0 success over the 1995 Premier League champions on Tuesday 26 February, 2013

Chris Wood's ninth goal in as many games got City off to a good start at King Power Stadium before future England captain Harry Kane nodded home on his home debut for the Club, on loan from Tottenham.

The third headed goal of the game, from Andy King, sealed the victory for City, who would later squeeze into the play-offs on the final day of the season, only to lose out to Watford in the semi-finals.

On Monday 27 February, 2017, meanwhile, the Foxes were reigning Premier League champions, but had suffered five consecutive league defeats and a loss at Millwall in the FA Cup.

Craig Shakespeare was in caretaker charge of Leicester for the visit of Liverpool to King Power Stadium as City sat in the Premier League's bottom three.

However, the Foxes' brilliant 3-1 victory over the Reds, courtesy of a Jamie Vardy brace and Danny Drinkwater's excellent long-range volley, would spark an upturn in fortunes.

Not only did Leicester go on to beat FC Sevilla in the UEFA Champions League Round of 16, they would also embark on a five-game winning run in the league to surge up the standings. 

In the end, City would go on to finish 12th in the Premier League, while being narrowly beaten and knocked out of Europe by Diego Simeone's Atlético Madrid at the quarter-finals stage.