On a day when Roy Hodgson became the oldest manager to take charge of a team in the Premier League, his side won a contest that left many Leicester fans believing Claude Puel’s reign has gone on too long.
This result was a vital boost in Crystal Palace’s fight against relegation and exposed Leicester’s manager to more flak. Boos at the final whistle confirmed as much. This time two years ago Leicester were making their way back from a Champions League knockout tie at Sevilla, now they appear to be heading nowhere fast. Seven defeats in nine matches is no kind of haul for a club who aspire to returning to Europe. Puel insisted his team deserved better and pleaded with fans to keep faith.
“It is a difficult moment for my team with all these young players,” he said. “They have the feeling they are not getting fair results for all their work but it is important they keep going. They need to show character and personality. We have a game against Brighton on Tuesday and it’s a good thing to have the possibility to show the right reaction.”
Leicester began strongly but still wound up falling behind to Michy Batshuayi’s instinctive strike just before half-time. That represented the 19th time in 27 league matches Leicester have conceded first. Jonny Evans equalised in the second half, but rather than complete the turnaround, they unravelled, each goal more damning than the previous.
Hodgson was more interested in accentuating positives. His team saw Burnley and Newcastle win earlier in the day and they responded with style to pull six points clear of 18th-place Southampton. Hodgson, aged 71 years and 198 days, said he takes inspiration from Sir David Attenborough, who is still making documentaries at 92. The momentum his team have gathered – with eight points from the last 12 available – should help them to survive in the Premier League jungle.
“This victory will give us a lot of heart,” Hodgson said. “If we’re capable of coming to a team like Leicester and getting a win, and winning at Manchester City, then I’ve got to believe in this team.”
Leicester have also beaten Manchester City but that was on Boxing Day and they have not won at the King Power Stadium since, instead falling to lowly outfits such as Cardiff, Southampton and now Palace. They have not won anywhere since victory at Everton on New Year’s Day. A lot of fine play is being undone by errant finishing and sloppy defending.
Their bright start spawned hope. Youri Tielemans, making his home debut, unloaded a shot from long-range in the second minute but Vicente Guaita saved easily.
Jamie Vardy headed over the bar from a cross by Harvey Barnes, and moments later Mamadou Sakho hurled himself in front of a shot by James Maddison from the edge of the area. Maddison had another go with a free-kick from 25 yards on the half hour but fired into the wall without the referee spotting that Batshuayi made the block with his arms.
Palace grabbed the lead with their first notable attack. James McArthur let fly with a hopeful shot from long range that Kasper Schmeichel would surely have gathered if Batshuayi had not thrown out a leg to divert it into the net.
It took a defender to breach Palace’s rearguard in the 64th minute. The visitors failed to cope properly with a long throw-in by Christian Fuchs, and when Barnes banged the ball towards the six-yard box from the edge of the area, Evans swivelled to send a first-time shot into the net.
No sooner had they levelled than Leicester nodded off. McArthur duped two defenders with a feint on the left before chipping a cross towards the far post. While Harry Maguire signalled offside against Batshuayi, Wilfried Zaha snuck in behind the England defender to steer a volley into the net.
Palace looked comfortable after that. Luka Milivojevic converted a penalty after Evans clunked into Batshuayi. Leicester got worse. Maguire was robbed by Jordan Ayew on halfway in stoppage time, and the Ghanaian released Zaha, who rammed a shot past Schmeichel at the near post.