Match report: Crystal Palace 1-1 Leicester City
Jacob Steinberg was at Selhurst Park for the Guardian and here’s how he saw the action unfold ...
Roy Hodgson speaks: In whether or not the performance was good. “It certainly was in the second half,” he says. “It almost cost my assistant Ray Lewington a heart attack in the dressing room at half-time, trying to rouse the team.
“In the first half we couldn’t really believe what we were seeing because we know we’re so much better. Ray came to life at half-time and in the second half and his shouting definitely did us a favour and had an effect on gthe whole team. They stepped up a couple of gears, but only to a gear we know we have.
On Wilf Zaha: “Wilf has passion, a love for the club and he has quality.”
Brendan Rodgers speaks: “We should win the game, we had good control of the first half ... a couple of chances that we should have put away,” he tells Amazon. “Second half, we gave the ball away for the first goal but I thought we reacted well.
On Kelechi Iheanacho’s penalty miss: “It was just one of those things. He practiced five in training yesterday and scored them all. I said to him at half-tiome that he needed to put it behind him. We’ve just had two tough games and I feel with the changesd we made we should have won the game.”
Hmmmm ... I missed this in the first half and so did the ref, his VAR and the good folk at Amazon, but there was a handball at a Crystal Palace corner, when Daniel Amartey touched an inswinger with his hand as he rose to challenge with Benteke. Crystal Palace should have had a penalty!
Wilf Zaha speaks: “The last couple of games have been tough for us so we worked hard today and I’ll take a point,” he tells Amazon. “I’m not trying to think about scoring too much, just playing well. I play with passion; others might see it as anger but I just I love what I do.”
Harvey Barnes speaks: “First half we didn’t create a lot of chances but I felt after they scored it was coming,” he tells Amazon. “We created a lot more chances in the second half but we just couldn’t put them away. We’re not leaving here satisfied because we want to win every game. We’ve given ourselves a good platform for the new year.”
On Iheanacho’s penalty miss: “These things happen.”
Chelsea v Aston Villa: Simon Burnton has the team news from Stamford Bridge, where Chelsea are in dire need of a win following their Boxing Day humbling at the hands of Arsenal. A reminder, also, that tonight’s match between Everton and Manchester City has been postponed, due to a covid outbreak in the City camp.
Full-time: Crystal Palace 1-1 Leicester City
Peep! Peep! Peeeeeep! It’s all over, with the sides sharing the points at Selhurst Park. Leicester City dominated the first half and the final 10 minutes, but Palace did enough in between to avoid defeat. Wilf Zaha’s outstanding opener was cancelled out by a fine effort from man of the match Harvey Barnes, while Kelechi Iheanacho missed a penalty in the first half for Leicester.
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90+4 min: Ayoze Perez beats James Tomkins to a ball played to the edge of the Palace penalty area and fires high over the bar. That was the chance!
90+3 min: From the right flank, James Justin sends a left-footed cross towards the far post. Barnes gets his head to the ball but it’s too high for him to steer it goalwards.
90+2 min: Tielemans sends a cross fizzing across the face of the Palace goal but there’s nobody in the right position to correct. Cue: admonishment from provider of the cross.
Lend us your ears: Here’s today’s episode of the Guardian Football Weekly podcast ...
90 min: Leicester win a free-kick straight in front of the Palace goal, just in front of the penalty arc. Youri Tielemans and Demarai Gray both want to take it. Gray wins the debate and sends the ball high over the bar.
88 min: Andros Townsend sends in a cross from the ribght. At the far post, Christian Benteke heads into Schmeichel’s arms from a tight angle.
86 min: That Barnes goal came out of very little, the industrious midfielder ferreting his way across the face of the penalty area after a great first touch. Under pressure from Milivoyjevic he made half a yard anbd drilled the ball low and hard into the corner.
84 min: Palace substitution: Jordan Ayew on for Jeffrey Schlupp.
GOAL! Crystal Palace 1-1 Leicester City (Barnes 83)
Leicester are level! Harvey Barnes jinks inside on the edge of the Palace penalty area, gets the ball on to his left foot and fires low into the bottom right hand corner.
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82 min: Kouyate goes down with cramp in his left leg, prompting Tomkins to administer first aid.
80 min: Leicester win a corner, which Youri Tielemans sends into the Palace penalty area. He’s aiming for Jonny Evans but James Tomkins gets to it first.
78 min: Youri Tielemans neatly passes the ball straight out of play on the right touchline, then gesticulates at James Justin ... who had been standing exactly where he put it a second or two previously.
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77 min: Jamie Vardy goes down holding his face after getting an accidental cuff from Cheikhou Kouyate. It didn’t look seriou ... ah, it’s a jab his left eye, which is now watering. The pair touch hands and play resumes.
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75 min: Crystal Palace substitution: Jairo Riedewald off, James McArthur on.
72 min: Leicester City substitution: Having spent several minutes being shown page after page of diagrams in a coaching manual by a member of the Leicester coaching staff, Demarai Gray comes on for Kelechi Iheanacho. I’m not sure why they’re blinding him with science immediately before he goes on, just show him a picture of a goal with an arrow pointing towards it ...
71 min: Nampalys Mendy rakes the shins of Luka Milivojevic then pleads innocence when he is penalised for the poor challenge.
68 min: Palace look comfortable with their lead, while Leicester City keep plugging away. They’re behind and about to make their third change, having been in total control of the game in the first half.
66 min: Leicester substitution: Brendan Rodgers sounds the Jamie Vardy klaxon and Dennis Praet makes way.
63 min: Youri Tielemans sends a long ball into the Crystal Palace box, from where it’s cleared.
61 min: That was sublime - a wonderful caress where quite a lot of players would have gone for power. Kasper Schmeichel won’t be feeling too clever about it, one suspects, but take nothing away from Wilf. Palace are playing with so much purpose and energy in this second half.
GOAL! Crystal Palace 1-0 Leicester City (Zaha 58)
Zaha scores. At the far post, he finishes a move he started in the centre-circle by guiding a side-footed volley past Schmeichel at his near post after getting on the end of a long cross from Andros Townsend. That’s an outstanding finish!
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56 min: We have our first substitution of the game. Youri Tielemans comes on for Hamza Choudhury in Leicester’s midfield.
52 min: Back at one of two top flight matches that haven’t been postponed, Crystal Palace have seriously upped their game in the early stages of this second half. They’re dominating possession and giving Leicester the run-around.
Premier League statement: “Manchester City’s fixture at Everton, due to be played at 8pm this evening, has been postponed following a Premier League Board meeting.
“Manchester City lodged a request with the Premier League today to rearrange the game following an increase in positive COVID-19 test results received by the club this morning, on top of the cases reported on Christmas Day.
“This rise has created uncertainty and the Premier League Board received medical advice that the match should be postponed. The Board agreed to rearrange the game as a precaution, and further testing will now take place tomorrow. The decision has been taken with the health of players and staff the priority.”
49 min: Palace go on the attack, with Schlupp playing a weighted pass into the path of Zaha outside the Leicester penalty area. He takes a wild slash at the ball and fires high over the bar.
Second half: Crystal Palace 0-0 Leicester City
46 min: Play resumes as your humble reporter is beset with wifi issues. Apologies for any delays - you’ve missed nothing more than some loud effing and jeffing on my part. No changes on either side.
Everton v Manchester City tonight is off ...
Tonight’s 8pm kick-off is off, apparently because a Covid outbreak in the Manchester City camp. While the game has definitely been postponed, the reasons have not yet been confirmed. More news as we get it.
Half-time: Crystal Palace 0-0 Leicester City
Peep! The sides go in for the break with the deadlock unbroken due in no small part to Kelechi Iheanacho’s poorly taken penalty after James Tomkins had fouled Luke Thomas.
Iheanacho missed another decent opportunity soon afterwards, shouldering wide after miscuing with his head. Andros Townsend will also be ruing a missed chance after firing wide from six yards for Palace. Leicester have been the better side but it’s all square.
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45+1 min: Jeffrey Schlupp wins a corner for Palace with another good scuttle down the left. Jonny Evans heads the ball clear at the near post. It’s half-time.
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43 min: A period of sustained huffing and puffing from both teams in the middle third, to no little effect. On the touchline, Palace manager Roy Hodgson looks singularly unimpressed with what he’s watching.
38 min: There’s a half-hearted appeal for a penalty as Iheanacho goes down under a challenge from Tyrick Mitchell on the right side of the Palace penalty area.
37 min: Palace have been second best here but Leicester City are very much on top. They win another free-kick for a Schlupp foul on Perez wide on the right. The ball is sailing wide from the set-piece, but seeming unsure of his bearings Guaita gloves it out for a corner. Nothing comes of it.
Class from Guaita. Perfect response to the stuttered run up from Iheanacho and just reacts to the strikepic.twitter.com/2YqpHkFYQO
— David Preece (@davidpreece12) December 28, 2020
35 min: Perez shoots over the wall but straight at Guaita, the ball bouncing in front of the goalkeeper.
34 min: Mendy goes down holding his shin after coming off worse from a challenge from Benteke. Leicester get a soft free about 35 yards from the Palace goal, more or less dead centre. Perez stands over it.
29 min: Iheanacho meets a Justin cross at the near post, catches it with his shoulder instead of his head and bundles the ball over the bar. Another poor effort from the striker who has never really convinced for Leicester.
28 min: A pull-back from Jeffrey Schlupp and Andros Townsend fires low, hard and narrowly wide from the edge of the six-yard box. Small wonder he has his head in his hands.
25 min: Praet picks out Justin on the right flank with a cross-field pass. He plays Perez into space and his cross takes a wicked deflection off Mitchell before looping up ijn the air and landing on the cross-bar. Praet lashes the rebound over the bar.
24 min: From the left flank, Jeffrey Schlupp sends the ball into the Leicester penalty area. It’s cleared.
22 min: A mistake from Choudhury sends Wilfried Zaha haring towards the Leicester penalty area. Jonny Evans is left in his slipstream but can’t bring him down, but Nampalys Mendy is able to keep Zaha occupied until Chouhury gets back to dispossess him.
Vicente Guaita saves from Kelechi Iheanacho!
Diving to his left, the Crystal Palace goalkeeper pulls off a decent save from Iheanacho, who was determined to take the penalty and now looks utterly gutted. It was a feeble effort from the striker, who signposted his intentions with a stuttering run-up and didn’t get much welly behind the ball.
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PENALTY FOR LEICESTER CITY!
James Tomkins mistimes a tackle on Luke Thomas on the left side of the Palace penalty area, done by the full-back’s pace.
16 min: The ball’s swung into the mixer, where Jonny Evans and Hamza Choudhury appear to get in each other’s way as they attempt to head it.
14 min: Iheanacho spanks a pull-back from James Justin goalwards through a crowded penalty area but his effort is blocked. Corner for Leicester, who are tightening their grip on this game.
12 min: Leicester left-back Luke Thomas and Harvey Barnes combine down the left and Thomas sends in a long cross towards the back post. Ayoz Perez gets his head to it but can’t steer the ball goalwards.
10 min: Wilf Zaha runs on to a through ball over the top into no-man’s land and finds himself in a one-on-one with Schmeichel. He’s quite obviously offside but no flag goes up, so Schmeichel has to dash out of his goal and save Zaha’s shot straight at him. Now we get a whistle and a flag from the match officials. .
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9 min: Free-kick for Leicester, wide on the left. Perez comes across to take and curls the ball into the penalty area. He aims for Mendy in the crowded penalty area but is unable to pick him out.
7 min: On the right touchline, Ayoze Perez picks up a wonderful 50-yard crossfield pass from Harvey Barnes but is unable to create anything in the way of a chance.
5 min: Palace have lined up in the now customary 4-4-2 they play under Hodgson. It’s a 4-2-3-1 for Leicester, with Hamza Choudhury and Nampalys Mendy in front of the back four and behind Ayoze Perez on the right, Dennis Praet in the middle and Harvey Barnes on the left. Iheanacho is alone up front.
3 min: The ball’s played wide from deep towards Zaha again and he tries to build an attack on the left flank. Tyrick Mitchell crosses the ball towards Christian Benteke in the centre but the big Belgian isn’t quite big enough to reach it. A lively start.
2 min: Kelechi Iheanacho stretches every sinew trying to get his head to a looping cross into the Palace penalty area. Too high.
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1 min: Wilf Zaha goes for an early canter down the left touchline chasing a crossfield ball, but Leicester clear.
Crystal Palace v Leicester City is go ...
1 min: Referee Graham Scott blows his whistle and Leicester, wearing all white, get the ball rolling with Dennis Praet doing the honours.
Not long now: The teams are out on the pitch, Leicester City making their way out from their temporary accommodation behind the usual dressing-rooms, followed by Palace who march out the tunnel. Selhurst Park is depressingly empty but here’s hoping those fans of both sides watching at home get a good game. Kick-off is just a minute or so away.
The table: A win or draw for Leicester will lift them into second place above Everton, who are one point ahead of them with an inferior goal difference and host Manchester City tonight. In 14th, seven points clear of the drop zone, Palace could do with a result to halt their poor run of form.
A lot of changes: Roy Hodgson makes five alterations to the side that lost against Villa – Joel Ward, Eberechi Eze, Scott Dann, Pat van Aanholt and James McArthur are all among the subs. Gary Cahill has not been deemed fit enough to make the matchday squad.
For Leicester, goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, defenders James Justin and Jonny Evans, and midfielder Harvey Barnes keep their places from the team that drew with Manchester United, with Jamie Vardy and Marc Albrighton among those to drop to the bench.
James Maddison, Timothy Castagne and Wesley Fofana have been given the day off entirely, while Caglar Soyuncu is among the subs.
Crystal Palace v Leicester City line-ups
Crystal Palace: Guaita, Clyne, Tomkins, Kouyate, Mitchell, Milivojevic, Riedewald, Townsend, Schlupp, Zaha, Benteke.
Subs: Butland, Ward, Van Aanholt, Ayew, Sakho, McArthur, McCarthy, Batshuayi, Eze.
Leicester City: Schmeichel, Justin, Evans, Amartey, Thomas, Mendy, Choudhury, Praet, Perez, Barnes, Iheanacho.
Subs: Ward, Soyuncu, Morgan, Gray, Tielemans, Vardy, Albrighton, Ndidi, Fuchs.
Some pre-match reading on a possible injustice ...
Today's match officials
Referee: Graham Scott.
Assistants: Peter Kirkup and Timothy Wood.
Fourth official: Dean Whitestone.
VAR: Robert Jones.
Early team news ...
Both managers will be tempted to make changes having played so recently, but Roy Hodgson may be forced to plan without Gary Cahill, who missed out on their Boxing Day fixture with a hamstring injury. Reserve goalkeeper Wayne Hennessy remains sidelined, as do Connor Wickham, Mamadou Sakho and Martin Kelly.
For Leicester, Caglar Soyuncu is back from a spell in the treatment room and may start, but Ricardo Pereira remains out. Cengiz Under is a doubt, having sat out Leicester’s draw with Manchester United, while Brendan Rodgers may be reluctant to risk playing the recently returned Timothy Castagne in two games across 48 hours.
Premier League: Crystal Palace v Leicester City ...
On the festive football schedule rumbles, with Crystal Palace hosting Leicester City in the first match of today’s top flight triple bill.
Palace come into today’s game on the back of a fairly comprehensive thrashing at the hands of an Aston Villa side that scored two goals against them while down to 10 men. Leicester travel to south London following their commendable and entertaining Boxing Day draw against Manchester United thast already seems a long time ago.
It wasn’t, however, so legs and muscles may be aching as the playters of both sides prepare for battle again. Kick-off is at 3pm (GMT), but stay tuned for team news and build-up in the meantime.
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