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Football London
Football London
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Mark Wyatt

Crystal Palace earn spirited Premier League draw to keep unbeaten Selhurst Park record intact

Comeback spirit

Based on the scoreboard alone, Palace looked in for a difficult second half against Leicester as they came off for the interval. Try telling that to the fans in Selhurst Park, though, who clapped their team down the tunnel like they'd just put five past Kasper Schmeichel

"They saw the game and that we didn't deserve to be 2-0 down, they stayed behind the team," said Patrick Vieira after the match.

And he was right - for long periods in the first half Palace were much better the side against Leicester. In the second half this was more apparent as the hosts began to squeeze the life out of the game, forcing Leicester deep into their own half so that they were defending their six-yard box.

There was always a sense that another chance would fall to Palace, and that is a testament to how Vieira and his coaching staff have implemented a new mentality onto the team.

By the end of the game it felt like three points had been there for the taking, though at this stage of the season a point at home against a side gunning for European football is nothing to sniff at.

Joachim Andersen

Mistakes happen in football - it's just the way it is. The vagaries of the game and the fallibility of players are reasons it's so captivating to watch, and fans were shown examples of this on Sunday.

By and large, Joachim Andersen was in credit before kick-off. Barring the goal Michail Antonio scored for West Ham at the London Stadium, the Dane hasn't done much wrong for Palace since he joined over the summer.

That's what made his first half against Leicester so surprising - it was an out-of-character performance from one of Vieira's most dependable players this season.

Joachim Andersen looks on during Crystal Palace's game against Leicester City at Selhurst Park (Sebastian Frej/MB Media/Getty Images)

Thankfully by the full-time whistle, Andersen had done some good to rectify his mistakes. He made more passes (85) and long balls (18) against Leicester than he has in any Premier League match so far this season.

Mistakes won't define Andersen's season, just as Marc Guehi's lapse against Brighton last week won't define his. The task for the Dane now is to put those moments out of his mind and move on, and an international break is a good time to do just that.

Olise vs Ayew

You could really see how badly Jordan Ayew wanted to make an impact on the game on Sunday, but no matter how hard he tried it just wasn't happening for him - again.

There were some good moments where he kept possession and got the ball moving near the halfway line, but his final product when trying to cross the ball into the box was poor.

Wilfried Zaha was visibly frustrated by the end of the first half with the service, and Vieira only gave him 10 minutes in the second half before hooking him for Michael Olise.

The teenager made an instant impact, linking up with Joel Ward well and drifting into the centre of the pitch which put him in the right place to score his goal. His whipped, left-footed cross into the box then led to Jeffrey Schlupp's equaliser, with Leicester unable to clear their lines amidst a sea of bodies.

His impact is obviously bad news for Ayew in the long-term, but Vieira's post-match comments about the need for Olise to continue his development slowly might mean the Ghanaian keeps his place when Palace travel to Arsenal after the international break.

Conor Gallagher came off for Crystal Palace after 70 minutes against Leicester (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

Conor Gallagher

Perhaps a moment that won't be spoken about too much in the aftermath of the Leicester game is the decision of Vieira to bring off Conor Gallagher after 70 minutes.

The Chelsea loanee has been Palace's standout player so far this season but wasn't at his best against the Foxes, which perhaps makes him a victim of the standards he has set himself in south London.

He still managed to get forward and had a few chances on goal - firing one effort at Schmeichel's feet before snatching at a chance just inside the box in the first half that went over the bar.

Given he is still only 21, it speaks a lot of Gallagher's talent that this is the first time he's been substituted in the league for Palace this season, and with a set of games for England Under-21s coming up, it was probably for the best he was given a rest.

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