From the moment Jamie Vardy allowed a ball from Riyad Mahrez in behind the Liverpool defence to drop into his path on the hour, and drew back a right boot with intent to do damage, one suspected that this game was only going to end one way.
In fact, it was even better than you might have imagined, an outrageous dipping, swerving half-volley that beat Simon Mignolet from the far right channel and put Leicester firmly in control against one of only two sides to have inflicted defeat on them in the league this season. This was a goal-of-the-season goal from a player-of-the-season striker leading the attack for a club who believe they can win the Premier league.
By February, the early pacemakers and the surprise packages are supposed to have long since fallen away and left the title race to the clubs that really matter. But Leicester are not going anywhere, with a three-point lead at the top of the table and 14 games left to play. Their title challenge is as real as that Vardy half-volley hitting the back of Mignolet's net and their next stop is the Etihad on Saturday to face second-placed Manchester City.
The two goals from Vardy, in front of a watching Roy Hodgson, gave Claudio Ranieri's team the win they deserved against Liverpool, on a night when Leicester played as you would imagine Jurgen Klopp one day hopes his team will. The home team were bold and relentless. They were at their best when they passed the ball quickly and they did that on many occasions in the second half. The question is how long they can keep it up.
Vardy hunted the ball all night, chasing lost causes into every corner of the ground until he got his reward. But Shinji Okazaki was outstanding too, as a presence behind the Leicester No?9 whom Liverpool never got to grips with. Mahrez conjured the ball of the night to Vardy for the first goal, like a chip onto the back of the green with backspin to help it to bite and hold its position.
There should have been a goal for Leicester in the first half when they ran their visitors into the ground at times and opened them up on either wing with swift passing and the ball played quickly in behind. Okazaki might have scored in the eighth minute were it not for a fine save from Mignolet and had that gone in, it would have been very different for Liverpool.
But they hung on although the away side found themselves too often outfought in midfield.
Mahrez had a fine shot touched over the bar after Adam Lallana had given the ball away from a throw-in. Dejan Lovren's emergency tackle on Vardy had presented the ball to the Algeria international, 30 yards from goal.
Okazaki's eighth-minute header from Vardy's cross from the left, again saved by Mignolet, was arguably the clearest chance of them all. In their best moments, Leicester were relentless and Klopp's defence did their very best to cope with the pace and variation that they encountered.
A foul by Lovren on Vardy as the Leicester striker rushed through the centre of the away side's defence went unpunished by referee Andre Marriner. But the home side were just not clinical enough. Their first attack, in the second minute, that went from Vardy to Okazaki and on to Mahrez, whose left foot shot went wide, was sleek but they did not put enough of those moves together to overwhelm Liverpool.
Klopp's side made precious few chances in the first half, playing largely on the counter-attack. Emre Can had strayed offside when he forced a good save out of Kasper Schmeichel in the 11th minute. Otherwise the manager's continued faith in the false nine role that Roberto Firmino played, with Christian Benteke starting on the bench, did not yield many chances.
Lallana was aggrieved that an elbow from Robert Huth was thrust into his face but there was no question which of these two sides played the better football. Previous to this game, it was Liverpool who inflicted one of Leicester's only two defeats in the league this season, at Anfield on Boxing Day. Since then Leicester had won two and drawn three of their five league games. Liverpool had lost two, won two and drawn one and the confidence of the home side was evident.
Klopp's team did in fact start the second half rather better with a move between James Milner, Jordan Henderson and then on to Can to open up the room to shoot but he could not even hit the target. The warning signs were there all night about Leicester's pace on the break and the danger it presented to Liverpool and as the game got more stretched it became a bigger problem.
Mahrez eased Henderson out of the way rather too easily on 49 minutes and only just mistimed his nudged pass through to Vardy, who had strayed offside.
There was a passing sequence on 51 minutes from the home side when the Liverpool players seemed unsure how many balls were on the pitch, let alone where the one was they were supposed to intercept.
The first goal was one that will stand the time and not just for Vardy's instinctive, brutal finish. It began with Mahrez wriggling clear of Alberto Moreno around the halfway line and then dropping a ball in behind Mamadou Sakho and Lovren for Vardy to run on to. Neither defender did very well at getting in position, Mignolet was stranded too far off his line and Vardy was not hanging around for anyone.
Wide on the right he took his shot first time, outside of the right foot, both feet off the ground, on the half-volley. It dipped and swerved away from Mignolet.
The second goal came on 72 minutes when Okazaki's shot was deflected into the path of Vardy, whose alertness and speed took him ahead of Lovren to tuck the ball in. Minutes earlier, Leicester had passed the ball through Liverpool with such pace that it seemed Okazaki had been fouled as he slipped into the area. When it mattered Leicester had gone up a gear and it was simply impossible for Klopp's team to live with them.