Vardy lifts Leicester into third

The Foxes moved above both Spurs and Liverpool in the table after ending a four-game winless run at an empty Bramall Lane, to push the Blades ever closer to a return to the Championship.

Clubs in tier-three areas of coronavirus restrictions in England still have to play behind closed doors, while tier-two zones such as London and Liverpool can have crowds of up to 2,000.

Sheffield United still have just one point from 11 games and were punished for a lack of ruthlessness as John Egan let Vardy run through rather than bringing down the striker outside the box and taking a red card, before the former England international kept his cool to beat Aaron Ramsdale.

The late winner was just reward for Leicester's domination of the game as they hit the woodwork twice in the first half through Vardy and James Maddison.

Instead it was Ayoze Perez who put Brendan Rodgers's men in front when he pounced on Marc Albrighton's deflected shot.

However, Chris Wilder's men hit back immediately for only their fifth league goal of the season when Oli McBurnie showed good strength to head home from a corner.

The hosts then held out more comfortably in the second period until they gifted away possession inside their own half and Maddison picked out a perfect pass to release Vardy for the winner.