IT is a fairytale story, but it is not yet complete. Having equalled the Premier League record for scoring in consecutive matches less than four years after he was still plying his trade in non-league, Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy is determined to set a new mark when Manchester United visit the King Power Stadium this weekend.

Fifteen years after Ruud van Nistelrooy scored for a tenth successive top-flight game at St James’ Park, Vardy repeated the feat at the same venue in Leicester’s 3-0 win over Newcastle.

Ironically, given that van Nistelrooy set his record while playing for Manchester United, Louis van Gaal’s side will be the opponents when Vardy attempts to make it 11 games in a row on Saturday night.

And having spent most of last week identifying the weaknesses of Newcastle’s back four, Vardy will spend the next few days attempting to highlight the best way to break down a Manchester United defence that has conceded just nine goals in 13 league games this season.

“I’ll be doing the same as I’ve been doing every other week,” said Vardy, who joined Leicester in a £1m deal from Fleetwood Town in 2012. “I’ll be getting on that training field, and looking at ways where I can possibly hurt their defence and get through on goal. Hopefully, once it’s game time, I’ll be able to put that into practice.

“During the week, we look at ways that I can get into my best positions, especially if I’m up front, and then go through on goal. So we concentrate on what their defenders are like, if they’re going to come in for the tackle and everything like that.

“Then, we just have to put it into practice on a Saturday. As you can see from the weeks we’ve been having, and with scoring the goals, it’s obviously working for us.”

Vardy missed England’s friendly double-header with Spain and France because of a hip problem, and was rated as a major injury doubt throughout the build-up to last weekend’s game.

However, some intensive physiotherapy sessions, which included a series of spells in a cryotherapy chamber, enabled him to take up his place at St James’ Park, and should mean he is able to continue in the starting line-up this weekend.

“Credit to the physios this week,” said Vardy. “They’ve literally just been working on me constantly. And obviously the cryotherapy chamber that we’ve got at the training ground has come in useful too.

“I couldn’t even tell you what the stuff’s called to be honest with you. They’re all physiotherapy terms, which I don’t even think one of the brainiest men in the world would understand.

“They’ve just been constantly working on me and giving me the rest when it’s needed. The cryotherapy chamber is absolutely freezing, but it helps you in your recovery so fair play to the club for getting that in.”

Leicester boss Claudio Ranieri was quick to pay tribute to Vardy’s heroics, and has flagged up another landmark the striker could equal this weekend.

During his time as Fiorentina manager, Ranieri watched Gabriel Batistuta score in 11 Serie A games in succession, and the Italian would love to see Vardy equal the Argentinian legend’s feat.

“Batistuta scored 11 goals in a row for me, and that is the best run by any player I have managed,” he said. “Hopefully, Vardy can achieve and beat this. It is amazing we are mentioning him in the same breath.

“It is so strange because four or five years ago, he was playing non-league. In my career, I know just one player like him who has taken the same route to the top. He was a Juventus player (Moreno) Torricelli, who went from non-league (Caratese) to Serie A and won the Scudetto with Juventus.”