Jamie Vardy's struggle to score goals this season is a reflection of his club Leicester City's form as the Foxes defend their English Premier League title.

But a lot of pressure falls on strikers because they are the ones expected to score goals to earn the points for their clubs.

I can empathise with Vardy because every striker goes through a dry spell and there is no magic formula to get out of that slump. I should know, because I went through a few scoring droughts myself when I was a player.

Sometimes, the harder you try to score, the more frustrated you feel. It is not as simple as practising a million times in front of the goal. You can keep shooting but the shot just will not go in.

So you have got to go back to the basics to try not to over-think things, not to over-dribble, and not try the fanciful.

One thing that the public do not really get to see or understand is that a striker is expected to score not just in matches, but in training sessions as well.

But it was in those training sessions when we played against each other that I would rediscover my scoring touch.

Vardy finally ended his 91-day, 741-minute, 17-game goal drought for the Foxes last Saturday.

The 29-year-old Englishman scored a hat-trick to help the reigning champions beat title contenders Manchester City 4-2.

And he served up a reminder of why he was the second-highest scorer in the English Premier League last season with 24 goals, just one goal behind top scorer Harry Kane.

This season, his tally stands at only five goals. But at this time last year, he had just set a record by scoring in 11 consecutive EPL matches and had already bagged 16 goals.

After breaking his barren spell, perhaps this match could be a turning point for Vardy, whose confidence will have received a tremendous boost after the hat-trick.

While Vardy navigates his way out of a goal slump, manager Claudio Ranieri still needs to steer his team out of a crisis of confidence. By beating City, Leicester won their first EPL match since Oct 22.

It is not fair to put the blame squarely on the striker when he is not getting the support he needs from his partners such as Riyad Mahrez and Shinji Okazaki.

But ultimately, a striker's job is to score goals. So it is rare to see that a player who has not scored for months is still playing in the team.

If it had been any other bigger club with plenty of strikers, Vardy would have been dropped.

In that sense, thankfully, the England international stayed on with Leicester this season.

So it is good news for the Foxes that their main man has rediscovered his touch as they look to climb up the table and continue their Champions League adventure.

The old Vardy has been missed.