Some of the biggest cheers from Leicester supporters all night came when a flag-waving pitch-invader managed to evade several stewards late on before being brought down. Unfortunately for Leicester, that appears to be their direction of travel.
Goals in the second half from Jean‑Philippe Mateta and Marc Guéhi enabled Crystal Palace to equal the club’s best unbeaten away record in the top flight of six successive matches, moving them eight points clear of a relegation zone in which Leicester now appear entrenched.
They may have avoided a PSR sanction on the eve of this game but, having made their manager change last month, Ruud van Nistelrooy’s team have now lost six successive Premier League games. The only bright spot as the mist descended on the King Power stadium has been the FA Cup, in which last Saturday’s 6-2 defeat of QPR earned them a trip back to the manager’s former club, Manchester United.
How he is going to shore this defence up in time for that emotional return next month remains to be seen. Leicester have conceded 25 goals in the 10 games since Steve Cooper was dismissed. The home fans turned on the club’s director of football, Jon Rudkin, late on. Having both fielded strong teams in their FA Cup third-round victories after the busy festive schedule, there was a refreshing openness to the early stages of this game. Refreshing for the neutrals, perhaps, if not for the coaches.
Jamie Vardy had four presentable chances in the first half, running on to Wout Faes’s simple long diagonal and shooting wide from the right channel from one before going closer when sent clear down the inside-left after brilliance from Stephy Mavididi, who was clearly in the mood. The Leicester captain, however, shot straight at Dean Henderson, who was all too willing to acknowledge the visiting supporters’ chants of “England’s No 1”.
Palace have been good on the road however and, back close to full strength after sickness deprived them of four first-teamers in the Cup win over Stockport, they looked dangerous on the counterattack.
When Tyrick Mitchell crossed from the left, Eberechi Eze was permitted an indecent amount of time and space to chest the ball down, do a keepy-uppy, turn and shoot goalwards. The Leicester defence looked as if they would have been willing to let him light a cigar and get his book out before they dared challenge. Unfortunately for Palace, Jean-Philippe Mateta got in the way.
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Only Mateta will know how he shot over the goal, with only Jacob Stolarczyk in his way, from eight yards out when Daniel Munoz’s block on Victor Kristiansen out wide turned into the perfect assist.
When Will Hughes rasped a 20-yarder just over the bar moments before the break, it was clear Leicester’s chances of a second clean sheet of the season were by no means guaranteed.
Sure enough, Palace took the lead just seven minutes after the interval. Ismaïla Sarr did well to win the ball back from Mavididi and play an excellent straight pass for Mateta’s diagonal run off the back of Vestergaard. The France forward used his first touch to nick the ball round Stolarczyk, and the second to turn in his ninth goal for Palace this season.
Palace could have been two up within 10 minutes, Sarr sending Mitchell in down the left side of the penalty area only for Stolarczyk to read his attempted dink and save.
Van Nistelrooy took decisive action, sending on three substitutes with 21 minutes remaining. At the end of a superb one-touch move, Kasey McAteer, one set of new legs, promptly served the ball back for Bouba Soumaré, who clipped the ball up and against the crossbar.
It felt briefly as if the force was with Leicester, although some supporters turned their frustration on the club’s director of football, Jon Rudkin. The cries of ‘We want Rudkin out’ grew louder after Guéhi ghosted in through the creeping fog to volley home Eze’s free-kick.
Article by:Source – Peter Lansley at the King Power Stadium
