Leicester City supporters have been in high spirits in recent times after seeing their team get back to winning ways in the Premier League on New Year’s Day.

Claude Puel’s men went into their clash with stuttering Everton at Goodison Park off the back of a surprise 1-0 home defeat to Cardiff City in their previous league encounter, and thus seeking to bounce back with victory against Marco Silva’s Toffees on Tuesday. And they did just that as a Jamie Vardy strike 13 minutes into the second half was the difference in a pretty drab affair on Merseyside, with that 1-0 success moving the Foxes up to seventh place in the Premier League table.

As such, there have been many delighted Leicester fans up and down the country in recent times, with several unsurprisingly lauding the efforts of striker Vardy for netting the crucial winner against the Toffees on Tuesday.

That was the Englishman’s seventh Premier League goal of what has been a decent season for the 31-year-old to further highlight just how reliant the Foxes remain on the striker, with their next top-scoring striker this term Kelechi Iheanacho with a paltry two goals to his name.

And while Vardy proved to be the match-winner against Silva’s struggling Everton on Tuesday, it was Ricardo Pereira, who played the 31-year-old through to net on 58 minutes, who was the real hero in Leicester’s victory at Goodison Park.

The 25-year-old has made quite the impact at the King Power Stadium following his move from Porto during the summer in making a starting berth his own under Puel, appearing in all but three of their Premier League matches this season, with Tuesday seeing him record his third assist for the Foxes.

Be it at right back, wing back, or indeed further forward down either the left or the right, the Portugal international has proven to be an absolute revelation for the Midlands outfit this season, and Tuesday was another example of what an outstanding acquisition he is continuing to be after producing another stellar display.

Be it completing a team-high seven dribbles over the course of the 90 minutes (as per WhoScored), which is very much indicative of the huge amount of confidence he currently has in his ability, or indeed winning three of the aerial duels he contested, Pereira made a big impact both on and indeed off the ball for the visitors.

And he even played his part defensively as well as Puel’s side kept a seventh clean sheet of the campaign on Tuesday, with the 25-year-old winning all four of the tackles he attempted during the match, at the same time making a handful of clearances and interceptions to suggest that he was regularly in the right place at the right time to snuff out Everton’s attack.

As such, while Vardy will likely get the plaudits for netting the all-important solitary goal against the Toffees, it was the exploits of £18 million-rated Pereira (as per Transfermarkt) which suggest that he was the real hero behind Leicester’s win at Goodison Park.

Leicester fans… what do you think? Let us know!