Brendan Rodgers gave starts to Wout Faes and Victor Kristiansen as they were back in the line-up, Daniel Amartey and Ricardo Pereira were named on the bench.
Palace had Roy Hodgson back in charge after former Leicester captain Paddy McCarthey had led the team since Patrick Vieira left a few weeks back.
Crystal Palace made it clear that they had no intention of letting Leicester run this show at all, and a vital Daniel Iversen was in real the difference between the two teams as he saved all first half attempts from the Palace players.
Leicester did try to get to terms with it all, but captain James Maddison was not given a chance to run the show from his midfield position as he was not seen much. Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Wilfred Ndidi are not on the same level on passing and struggled.
The only big chance for Leicester in the first half was a great attempt from Victor Kristiansen passed through by Harvey Barnes, but his shot hit the post.
Crystal Palace had to see their captain Wilfred Zaha leaving the field with an injury and that was of course a worry for Roy Hodgson, but the experienced man had his methods and made good changes.
Leicester managed to keep a clean sheet for the first half, but still it was a bit suprising to see that so little happened and especially Tetê and Daka were kept to total silence.
There must have been a few words said by Brendan Rodgers after the first half as Tetê was replaced with Ricardo Pereira and the formation was changed, pushing Timothy Castagne higher in the field and with Ricardo Pereira, which looked to be a lucky strike.
A great combination between the two, Castagne and Pereira, became an effective affair as Pereira hammered the ball in the net from close distance, assisted with a clever back pass from Castagne.
Leicester were 1-0 up after 56 minutes and this looked as a game to win, especially with the way we had defended and a goalkeeper eager to keep a clean sheet, but the happiness lasted just 3 minutes.
Patson Daka had a terrible day at the office, after coming back with goals from the international break. His contribution to this team is very limited and he looks lost, then to see him moving back and making silly mistakes is even worse. He needs to take a good look at himself as his approach led to a free kick just outside the penalty area.
This was the perfect gift to Crystal Palace, and of course with a player like Eberechi Eze in there to take the free kick the outfall became tragic for Leicester as Daniel Iversen struggled to keep the well placed shot out of the goal. The ball finally hit Iversen in the back, and was pushed over the line.
Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers had to make more changes as he put on Luke Thomas for Victor Kristiansen, Kelechi Iheaancho replaced Patson Daka. This had no effect as the two made little or no impact at all. Instead Palace managed a late push, bringing on Jean-Philippe Mateta.
The game was in the last minute of 5 minutes stoppage time when a good pass came through to Mateta as he turned and had no problems to scored and give Roy Hodgson the perfet day of return, 2-1 to Palace and Leicester are now into a clear relegation battle being down with only Southampton and West Ham behind them.
Leicester will play Aston Villa and Bournemouth in their next two games, both at home and of course vital to get something from those two games as we all are looking at a grim spring and being part of a fight we thought never would appear as this group of players certainly are capable of much more.
- Positives
- Ricardo’s fantastic goal
- Making a half time change that looked to have an effect
- Daniel iversen being the best Leicester player on the field today
- Negatives
- To again give away a lead, looking totally out of control seconds after scoring
- A midfield not able to keep a pressure and Maddison being so silent
- Souttar getting a yellow and not able to cope with Palace forwards as he pulled their shirts
- Silly yellow cards to Kristiansen, Souttar, Dewsbury-Hall and Ndidi
- Ndidi just a shadow of himself, please play Mendy going forward
- Daka and Iheancho both out of touch, Tetê struggling with the physique of Premier League
Player Ratings: Iversen 7, Castagne 6, Kristiansen 5, Souttar 4, Faes 6, Ndidi 4, Maddison 4, Dewsbury-Hall 5, Daka 3, Tetê 3, Barnes 5 Subs: Pereira 6, Thomas, Iheanacho
- Leicester City, Man of the Match
- Daniel Iversen
Match Stats (H/A)
- Possession: 51 / 49
- Corners: 10 / 1
- Shots on target: 9 / 2
- Fouls: 12 / 16
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