Leicester City vs Crystal Palace report: Crystal Palace match report

Leicester City took on Crystal Palace at the King Power stadium as Jamie Vardy returned to the starting line up for the Foxes. Ben Chilwell missed the game due to injury and was replaced by Christian Fuchs at left back. Martin Kelly and James Ward replaced James Tomkins and Aaron Wan-Bissaka who were both ruled out due to injuries.

It was a cagey start to the game as both sides played cautiously till the first chance of the half fell to the hosts as Jamie Vardy headed the ball wide in the eighth minute. James Maddison’s shot in the following minute was deflected wide as the Foxes tried to up the tempo of the game.

Leicester dominated the possession for the next 25 minutes but failed to create any realistic chance for their forwards. McArthur’s deflected strike from outside the box in the 40^th minute opened the scoring and gave the visitors the lead.

The goal was credited to Michy Batshuayi after replays showed that the ball last came of the Belgian before hitting the back of the net. Roy Hodgson’s side went in at the break with a 1-0 lead thanks to a fortunate deflection.

Claude Puel made a change at the start of the second half as Demarai Gray came on for Ghezzal. The game stretched as the half went on with Leicester desperately trying to level the score. However, no clear cut chance was created by either team.

Leicester levelled the game in the 64^th minute as Jonny Evans blasted home a cross from Harvey Barnes after a scramble in the box. Leicester continued to dominate the game following the goal with the combination of Christian Fuchs and Harvey Barnes threatening on the left-hand side.

Despite the Foxes’ dominance, Palace threatened on the counter and Wilfried Zaha volleyed past Schmiechel to give Palace them the lead again. Leicester made their second change in the 74^th minute as a tired Youri Tielemans was replaced by Kelechi Iheanacho.

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Crystal Palace won a penalty in the 80^th minute and Luka Milivojević coolly sent Schmeichel the wrong way and the visitors extended their lead with 10 minutes to play.

Claude Puel’s last throw of the dice came in the 85^th minute as he brought on Shinji Okazaki. Zaha sealed the game with his second in stoppage time with a fierce strike to beat Schmeichel and Palace comfortably picked up the 3 points.

Roy Hodgson’s men closed the gap between them and the Foxes to just 1 point. Here’s how some of Palace’s fans reacted to the game: