With every little ray of hope, be it progress in one of the cups or someone returning from injury, comes a result in the Premier League to deepen the gloom for Tottenham.
Last week, they beat Everton against a team that had forgotten how to score. Now this. Defeat against a team that had forgotten how to win. Or even draw.
Leicester reached N17 in a series of seven successive defeats, one of a club record in the Premier League. And they won, fighting back from a goal down to score twice in five minutes early in the second half.
They held on from here. It wasn't pretty, Ruud Van Nistelrooy's team wasted time horribly, but they withstood everything Spurs could throw at them and won for the first time since early December.
From Ange Postecoglou's angle there is no way to sugarcoat it. This result was simply horrible despite all the injuries and unavailable players and the home crowd made their feelings known.
Strong Jeers came at the final whistle, and the defeat unfolded before a drop of protest songs directed at President Daniel Levy and a banner, calling for 'Time For Change' to be held high as the stadium emptied at the end.
It is now the fourth consecutive defeat for Ange Postecoglou's side
Postecoglou's team may be all over the Cup competition, but they have taken five points from 11. They have lost at home to relegation threatened Ipswich and Wolves have retained at home.
Now this. And he had promised to be different when Richarlison opened the scoring in an error-strewn first half, drifting behind Wout Faes and keeping James Justin at bay as he headed in on a Pedro Porro cross.
It was his second goal in two Premier League games after having missed most of the season to date through injury.
Before that, Leicester goalkeeper Jakub Stolarczyk had kept Bayham at bay. First with a strong save to beat a fierce Porro attack and then an exceptional save to deny Heung-Min's son, who thought he had found the bottom corner.
Son, after scoring twice at Hoffenheim on Thursday, carried a bit of his old threat and drew another good save from Stolarczyk with a curling left footer that tipped into the bar, just before Richarlison's opener.
Once back, Leicester called for a response. Pushing forward for the purpose of forcing corners, with two efforts from the deflected distance.
Bilal El Khannouss's had Spurs goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky worried as he rose over him and clipped the roof of the net.
But Tottenham collapsed after the interval.
Richarlison opened the scoring with a sublime header from Pedro Porro's exquisite cross
Vardy leveled within a minute after a series of defensive errors with Rodrigo Bentancur, who missed a tackle, Porro, who had disallowed his spot and Ben Davies and Kinsky, who dived to intercept a low cross from Bobby de Cordova- Reid and both failed.
Jubilant Vardy converted from inches, his tenth goal in 18 Premier League games against Tottenham.
The goal shook the home team, and they conceded again very quickly.
Again, the defense left a lot to be desired in the same areas of the field.
Bentancur was muscled off the ball by De Cordova Reid, who rolled a short pass to El Khannouss.
The Tottenham defenders sat back and invited the Morocco international to aim from distance, which he did and found the bottom corner, beyond Kinsky's dive.
Jamie Vardy canceled out the Brazilian's goal in the first minute of the second half
Bilal El Khannous gave the visitors the lead in the 50th minute
The sour mood. Some Spurs fans returned late to their seats from the half-time interval to find the game in their heads and the Hardcore in the South Stand revving up another chorus of protest songs against chairman Daniel Levy.
They abandoned the decision to replace Richarlison, although Postecoglou has been nursing him to full fitness, aware that he has been out for months, has a poor injury history and is their only Fit Center striker.
Tottenham were better going forward after the changes while remaining vulnerable at the back.
Dejan Kulusevski found himself clean on a Kinsky long ball only to be denied by goalkeeper Stolarczyk and Porro, so horrible defensively, made an impression in attack.
First hitting the bar from Vardy's deflected free-kick, then twisting through a crowd of blue shirts and cutting wide when team-mates were better positioned and then crossing for Radu Dragusin to head over.
Nerves frayed around the stadium as the minutes dwindled and frustrations mounted as Leicester blatantly played for time. Seven minutes added time didn't seem to compensate, but the visitors held on.