Crystal Palace 2-2 Leicester: Jean-Philippe Mateta’s late penalty rescues a point for Eagles after goals by Jamie Vardy and Stephy Mavididi
It has been a fortnight of points salvaged and points spurned for Leicester.
A win in the courtroom was minutes away from being followed up by a win on the pitch. But while the Foxes’ lawyers showed no lack of cunning or nouse in winning their case against the Premier League and avoiding a widely expected points deduction for financial irregularities by squeezing through a loophole, their players couldn’t quite muster the same level of savviness at Selhurst Park.
They had put in the hard yards, too. Leicester were the better side in the first half. Wilfred Ndidi was the best player on the pitch by a distance. Jamie Vardy rolled back the years. They went 2-0 up — through Vardy and Stephy Mavididi — and it wasn’t undeserved.
But Crystal Palace and Jean-Philippe Mateta hit back just 86 seconds after Leicester’s second and suddenly the heat was on. Could Leicester’s defenders withstand it?
The answer, eventually, was no. In stoppage time Conor Coady conceded a penalty and Leicester conceded an equaliser — Mateta stepping up from the spot.
It has been a fortnight of points salvaged and points spurned for newly-promoted Leicester
Jean-Philippe Mateta’s injury-time penalty denied the Foxes of a first win of the season
Vardy made no mistake on 21 minutes as he put Leicester ahead following a long ball
In isolation, it was a good point — Leicester’s first on the road this season. But to have led for over 70 minutes and leave without all three will have been galling.
Their second major win since the start of the international break would have been a significant one for Leicester. It would have put a bit of daylight between them and the relegation zone at this early stage of the season, and maintained the feelgood factor among the travelling fans who sang ‘We’re Leicester City, we’ll spend what we want’ here. Instead those supporters will be licking their wounds on their journey back to the midlands.
Palace boss Oliver Glasner handed debuts to new boys Eddie Nketiah and Maxence Lacroix. Nketiah, playing off the right, looked lively in the early stages — but it was a Palace old boy who should have opened the scoring.
Ndidi won the ball in the Palace box and floated a ball across to Jordan Ayew. Ayew, back at Selhurst Park only a few weeks after leaving, should have buried from close range but volleyed into the floor and over.
Vardy made no mistake on 21 minutes, however. Again Ndidi was involved, winning the ball on the halfway line and playing in the 37-year-old. Between them, Marc Guehi and Dean Henderson should probably have dealt with the through-ball — but both hesitated, Vardy didn’t, and he danced round Henderson and side-footed into an empty net.
Vardy restrained himself from mimicking an eagle, as he has done after scoring at Selhurst Park in years gone by, but his predatory instincts remain undimmed. It was a lead Leicester deserved.
They nearly added to it, too, before the break. Guehi fluffed a simple clearance and Vardy pounced, before finding Stephy Mavididi down the left. Mavididi blazed wide. It was a good chance.
Just 19 seconds into the second half, Leicester were two up thanks to Stephy Mavididi
Palace are a great watch at their best under Glasner but they had struggled for fluency and control here.
Home fans expecting better after the break were swiftly disappointed. Just 19 seconds into the second half, Leicester were two up after a botched clearance by Nathaniel Clyne, another intervention by Ndidi and a powerful strike from Mavididi.
That seemed to spark Palace into life, however, and they halved the deficit moments later, Jean-Philippe Mateta tapping home Tyrick Mitchell’s cross. The linesman’s flag went straight up for offside but a lengthy VAR delay eventually went the way of Palace. Game on.
Mateta halved the deficit under two minutes later with a close-range finish
Nketiah flashed wide from a tight angle in the 68th minute as Palace chased an equaliser. Glasner threw on forwards Daichi Kamada and Ismaila Sarr for defenders Clyne and Daniel Munoz and the pressure on Leicester grew.
It finally told in stoppage time, Coady scything down Sarr in the box. Tony Harrington pointed to the spot and Coady could have no complaints. Mateta sent Mads Hermansen the wrong way — and it was an opportunity missed for Leicester, too.
