A spendthrift Leicester severely punished a clinical Crystal Palace whose 2-0 win at the King Power Stadium handed the hosts a sixth successive league defeat.
The Foxes had their highest number of shots of the season and hit the bar through Boubakary Soumare after half-time, but they were far from slick as they wasted opportunity after opportunity with Jamie Vardy the main culprit.
Leicester appeared to be buoyed by their 6-2 FA Cup win over QPR at the weekend when they came out of the traps and dominated the first period, but Vardy fired straight at Dean Henderson when Stephy Mavididi played in behind him.
It took Palace 51 minutes to get their first shot on target, but it was a relentlessly clinical move that gave them the lead against the league’s second most leaky defence, when Ismaila Sarr pushed Jean-Philippe Mateta through to Jakub Stolarczyk.
Chances continued to come and go for Leicester with Soumare inches away from his first goal for the club, before another poor strike, this time from Marco Guehi, ended their hopes of a comeback.
The England centre-back has been the subject of a prolonged transfer pursuit by Chelsea, but after the Blues recalled Trevoh Chalobah from Palace earlier on Wednesday, it looks like he will remain at Selhurst Park this term.
Enzo Maresca’s side may have missed an experienced striker with the quality of his finishing to seal the three points, volleying powerfully at Stolarczyk’s near post after Eberechi Eze’s free-kick had beaten the home defence.
The goals moved Palace, now on a six-game unbeaten run in the league, above Manchester United into 14th, while Leicester, who were ahead of the Eagles at the start of their winless run, remain two points from safety in 19th. place.
More to come…
The story of the match in statistics
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