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Leicester City fans

An “earthquake” made by football fans celebrating a goal has been recorded for the first time in the UK.

A University of Leicester team installed a seismometer near Leicester City’s King Power stadium and reported a minor quake with a magnitude of 0.3.

The tremor was attributed to a “sudden energy release” made by Foxes fans when Leonardo Ulloa scored a last-minute winner against Norwich, in February.

The event has been labelled the “Vardy Quake” after top scorer Jamie Vardy.

A seismometer was installed by geology students, and the British Geological Survey (BGS), at Hazel Community Primary School, 500m from the King Power Stadium, as part of a project to detect earthquakes around the world.

However, Paul Denton, a seismologist from the BGS, said the team wondered if football fans would affect the detectors.

He said: “The seismometers were actually closer to the Leicester Tigers [rugby] ground and so we were expecting stronger signals from there but we can’t find anything.

“It says something about the nature of football, it’s so tense and then we get four or five seconds of unexpected magic.

“[In Leicester’s case] it was in the 89th minute, the game was practically over.

“It wasn’t just a case of cheering or clapping, it was 30,000 people standing up at the same time — an awful amount of energy.”

The scientist who recorded similar results at the Reading music festival and freight trains passing through the city, said he would like to see how Leicester compares with other football clubs.

He said it could inspire children to get more interested in science.

Leicester City have been the surprise package in the Premier League this season and are clear at the top by five points with nine games left to play.

Meanwhile, Arsene Wenger is refusing to throw the towel in on Arsenal’s title chances.

There are nine games left in the Premier League and while the Gunners are behind Tottenham and Leicester — they have a great run in.

Indeed, Arsenal face seven clubs in the bottom half of the table and only two in the top part, which is way better than Spurs and Leicester’s fixtures.

The main tricky clash for Wenger’s men is facing Manchester City on the penultimate day of the season, but even then Arsenal have a decent record against them, so it’s all looking pretty rosy.

Arsenal are currently eight points off Leicester and three from Spurs. — BBC Sport