Full Time: Leicester City 0-3 Crystal Palace
Leicester City failed to make it five wins in a row as they were outplayed in all departments by a transformed Crystal Palace side. The game ended 3-0 with goals coming from Christian Benteke and Wilfried Zaha in the 19th and 40th minute. Late on, a classy finish from Bakary Sako sealed the deal.
The Foxes couldn’t quite get going and were left with too much to do when they committed many bodies forward. Ndidi received a red card which technically put the game to bed, as it opened too much for a Palace counter. Leicester involved themselves in the build-up play but failed to find the right passes or crosses. They struggled to penetrate and just a couple of shots on target provided evidence to the cause.
Here’s how the Leicester players fared on the day.
Leicester City Player Ratings
Kasper Schmeichel: 8/10
Made a star jump save off Benteke in the second half, which will easily go down as one of the best for the weekend. Otherwise, his handling and a couple of routine saves were superb.
Danny Simpson: 5/1o
Very loose defending at times as he let players get past him way too easily. Offensively too, didn’t contribute to anything significant.
Wes Morgan: 7.5/10
Best defender for Leicester. His positioning and a challenge on Zaha early on in the first-half were eminent.
Harry Maguire: 5/10
Defended well whenever the ball was in the air. While going forward in the dying stages of the game, he enjoyed some moments but couldn’t really make it count.
Ben Chilwell: 6/10
Got forward decisively but his crossing was way below par. The hard work was surely there though, both with and without the ball. On a few occasions, he used his body extremely well to stop the Palace counter, against Benteke.
Wilfred Ndidi: 4/10
His blocking and tackling inside the box was sharp as ever. With everything going right and Ndidi getting into advanced positions in the second half, the dive spoiled the day.
Vicente Iborra: 5/10
He played with some ease on the ball. Nothing too creative, but no nonsense either. Iborra must have taken the push off the table, which would have got him a goal.
Riyad Mahrez: 6.5/10
He moved to a central role and was much more involved in midfield. However, he lacked the cutting edge or the skill to get past opposition players. A few wasteful passes played by him lowered the morale.
Marc Albrighton: 6.5/10
Was always looking to release Vardy. His set-pieces were on point. His defensive contribution was good too.
Demarai Gray: 5.5/10
A hot and cold performance from the youngster. His switching of play was rather poor but to track back, defend and win back the ball, he was excellent.
Jamie Vardy: 6/10
He was always immediately looking to spin off defenders and run forward for the early release, but in the box, he didn’t receive the best of passes.
Substitutes
Shinji Okazaki: 6/10
Right from the word go, he brought a lot of energy and won corners. Leicester were just not incisive with the passing into the box, hence the Japanese couldn’t make an impact.
Andy King: 5/10
He couldn’t create anything despite staying in the box. Didn’t drop deeper to receive the ball either.
Leonardo Ulloa: N/A
Came on too late and didn’t receive any service.