Jamie Vardy 'a leader by example' Leicester boss Ruud van ...

Leicester City's veteran striker Jamie Vardy earned high praise from manager Ruud van Nistelrooy after his goal paved the way for a crucial 2-1 victory at Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.

Vardy, 38, equalised just after half-time from close range and four minutes later Bilal El Khannouss scored what turned out to be the winner.

Van Nistelrooy described the win -- after seven successive league defeats -- as "huge" as his side climbed out of the Premier League's relegation zone into 17th place.

"He is a leader by example," Van Nistelrooy said of Vardy who has scored seven goals and has three assists in the league this season. "He is still producing.

"The respect from the team and the staff at this club for him is huge. He is also delivering."

Leicester trailed to a 33rd-minute header from Richarlison, but produced a great response to fight back after half-time.

"The performance was excellent, the shape and the way the players were defending together," Van Nistelrooy, who enjoyed only his second league win in charge, said.

"We went behind but the way the team reacted to going 1-0 down, they took the ball and started to play. At half-time they were calm and the way they came out of the dressing room was tremendous. I think that won us the game in the end.

"The effort, the dedication, the blocks and the clearances, the tactics we made it was a joy to watch. It got us a massive three points away from home."

The forward goaded the Spurs fans after scoring his equaliser by pointing to the Premier League badge on his sleeve and motioning that Leicester had won more Premier League titles than their hosts.

Vardy, the sole survivor from Leicester's 2015-16 Premier League winning side, was a constant menace for Tottenham's defence and ran himself into the ground in north London.

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Vardy's spirit will be crucial if Leicester are to pull clear of trouble and he sounded a confident note.

"We have all stuck together as a team. We knuckled down, stayed together and got the big win," he said.

"100% back every single one of them [to get out of trouble]. We all know what is at stake. We want to play nice football but that was three points in the right direction and hopefully the start of a run."