Leicester’s Champions League hopes took a hit on Monday with a 1-1 draw at Crystal Palace.
Kelechi Iheanacho had the best chance of the first half but his penalty was poor and saved by Vicente Guaita, while a deflected Ayoze Perez cross spun up onto the crossbar and Andros Townsend put Palace’s best chance wide around the half-hour mark.
While Leicester dominated the first half, Palace came out far sharper after the break and got their reward for more attacking intent and pace on the break.
Wilf Zaha started and finished the move, spraying play out to the right wing before attacking the box for the cross and steering his effort past Kasper Schmeichel at the goalkeeper’s near post – but Harvey Barnes’ brilliant solo goal levelled matters late on.
Here are five things we learned from the match at Selhurst Park.
Rotations costing cohesion
Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers opted for seven changes to cope with the quick turnaround of games around Christmas, but it didn’t help their attacking flow.
The Foxes certainly had most of the ball in the first half but didn’t always do too much with it; lots of playing around in front of the Palace defence, lots of crosses in fairly aimless fashion and a lack of bodies in the box.
Most of the big moments for the away side came from individual actions and moments of pace, such as the winning of the first-half penalty.
Without Jamie Vardy from the start, Youri Tielemans, James Maddison and Timothy Castagne, they did lack the usual thrust in the final third.
Ten pens
A milestone moment for Leicester, though not a happy one ultimately.
James Tomkins fouling Luke Thomas meant a tenth penalty of the season for Leicester in the Premier League – at least double every other team in the top flight, with Manchester United among those teams who have earned five.
Vardy has been a happy beneficiary of those chances from 12 yards, netting several among his 11 league strikes this term.
Iheanacho couldn’t do similarly, though, with a fairly tame effort that was saved one-handed by Guaita.
Harvey Barnes
In the absence of other star names and regular starters, Barnes was the attacker who shouldered the burden of both creating and taking chances for Leicester.
He was always ready to surge forward, take on his man and get shots away – though they weren’t overly accurate in the opening stages.
Barnes persevered though and was rewarded with the equaliser, his fifth league goal of the season to continue his upward trajectory.
The 23-year-old is versatile, powerful, reliable and has a great engine – he’s surely in the reckoning for regular England involvement in 2021 and beyond.
Palace form
No wins in five now for Palace and their response to the 7-0 hammering against Liverpool has been dismal, all things considered.
Roy Hodgson would have wanted much more aggression, concentration, desire and above all else, points, from his team after such an embarrassment.
But they were easily beaten by Aston Villa and took far too long to get going in this game too – then couldn’t hold onto the lead and twice almost lost the match entirely late on.
It’s Sheffield United at home next time out and that’s a must-win to end their rocky form.
Top-four chase
Leicester move into second with this point, but they’ll have hoped for more.
It’s still just one defeat in six, which is a positive, but with top-four rivals all dropping points around the festive period, whoever shows the best consistency will be looking to establish a gap between themselves and fifth (and beyond).
Back-to-back draws for Rodgers’ team keeps them in the running, but not pulling away – and the Foxes hadn’t drawn at all before Christmas.
