Leicester City have lost yet again in their stop-start Premier League campaign. This time it was at the hands of fellow strugglers: Crystal Palace and was another crucial match that the Foxes let slip through their fingers. Leicester had most the possession throughout the match and dominated in terms of chances created, but failed to capitalize on any of them. The Leicester City starting lineup was set up in their traditional 4-4-2 formation and consisted of Mark Schwarzer in goal, a back line of Paul Konchesky, Wes Morgan, Marcin Wasilewski and Danny Simpson. The Midfield was set up with Matty James and Esteban Cambiasso in the central roles with Jeff Schlupp on the left wing and the returning Riyad Mahrez on the right. Leo Ulloa and David Nugent were the two strikers for the Foxes. Palace set up in a 4-2-3-1 formation with the ever-consistent Julian Speroni in goal.
The back line consisted of Joel Ward, Scott Dann, Damien Delaney and Martin Kelly. The midfield had James McArthur and Joe Ledley as the defensive anchors while, Jordan Mutch the farthest forward in the centre of the park. Dwight Gayle was the lone striker up top while Jason Puncheon and Wilfried Zaha were on the flanks. Nigel Pearson had dropped his record signing, Andrej Kramarić, to bench which caused controversy among the supporters. Marouane Chamakh missed out through injury for Palace. Crystal Palace started off the match as the more controlled side for the first ten minutes. Although, they found it difficult getting in behind Leicester’s high line of defense. The most dangerous part of Palace’s game were the wide men. Zaha was causing Danny Simpson all kinds of problems early on with his excellent trickery and cutting inside onto his right foot and this was to be a reoccurring theme during the remainder of the match. After the first ten minutes, Leicester started to pick up their game and started to build momentum. Mahrez and Schlupp were causing problems for the Palace defenders and winning lots of free kicks. Most of Leicester City’s chances were created from set pieces. They came the closest to putting the ball in the back of the net when David Nugent got his head to a corner kick that was swung in by Mahrez, but his header crashed against the crossbar. City had another opportunity later on when Riyad Mahrez’s low cross came to the feet of Schlupp who could only rifle a crisp half-volley straight at Speroni.
The pace of the game slowed down just before the first half ended at 0-0. Scott Dann and Wes Morgan had clashed heads during a corner and Dann was later replaced in the second half by Hangeland. Alan Pardew also brought on Yaya Sanogo, on loan from Arsenal, to replace the ineffective Jordan Mutch. Almost immediately after his introduction, Sanogo got behind the Leicester defense from a long ball that deflected off of Wes Morgan and fell to the feet of the Frenchman. He was clean through on goal, but Marcin Wasilewski got back crucially to throw his body in front of Sanogo’s shot; pulling off a heroic block. However, the foxes would regret conceding the corner that followed. The ball came in from the left hand side and was headed back across goal by Hangeland and the unmarked Ledley headed home to give Palace the lead. Leicester’s poor marking cost them this goal with all kinds of confusion at the back. The Foxes almost immediately responded when David Nugent found himself one on one with Speroni, but opted to go around the goalkeeper and lost the angle to shoot. He then attempted to cross to Mahrez who couldn’t reach his pass, resulting in a goal kick. Puncheon came close to doubling Palace’s lead in the 69th minute when his curling shot from 18 yards just fell inches past the post. Kramarić did come on eventually for David Nugent in the 70th minute. City started building up more momentum as they searched for an equalizer. They were getting more crosses into the box as they brought on Marc Albrighton for Schlupp. Palace were happy to let Leicester play at them, as they knew they counter dangerously. Alan Pardew decided to shut up shop for the last 15 minutes as he brought off Dwight Gayle and brought on Adlène Guédioura to shore the defense. Nigel Pearson decided to give it everything by throwing on another striker through Jamie Vardy who replaced Danny Simpson. Vardy created a chance where he flicked on a header towards goal off a corner. Speroni spilled it, but he eventually grasped it in his arms. Matty James took a shot when ball fell to him at the edge of the box, but it fizzed just past the post. City were becoming more and more frustrated and started losing concentration. They had one last chance when Mahrez slipped in Jamie Vardy whose shot from a tight angle was parried away from Speroni yet again.
Just like that, Leicester had lost yet another game in which they dominated. Simply because they failed to convert any of the opportunities. City have a tough few fixtures ahead of them and hopefully Pearson can turn fortunes around. Alan Pardew will be delighted with an away win to keep Palace away from the drop.
Source: DSG
