Palace 1-1 Leicester: the Foxes have good quality in the squad

After a one game hiatus, I’m back to unravel Leicester City’s 1-1 draw away at Selhurst Park, which I think has more positives than negatives – especially when considering the abundance of changes to the Foxes starting XI.

Brendan Rodgers has shown a lot of faith in the 4-2-3-1 formation, now that key personnel are returning from injury, and he proceeded to utilise the formation after making seven changes to the side that faced Manchester United two days prior. This is further testament to the quality of the entire squad, that the manager feels comfortable to utilise exterior players in key Premier League matches.

The shortened version of the changes is that Kasper Schmeichel, Jonny Evans, James Justin, and Harvey Barnes all remained – with “peripheral” players filling the spots around them. There wasn’t too many unusual inclusions, Daniel Amartey as a centre-back in a central two was probably the most notable – but the Ghanaian had a good game, helped by the composure and quality of his experienced partner.

There was space for two academy graduates in the starting XI, Luke Thomas filled in at left-back and was heavily involved throughout. His internal run – inside of Barnes – facilitated the best chance for Leicester City in a goalless first-half, a penalty that Kelechi Iheanacho couldn’t finish. This movement from Thomas was a constant feature, seemingly deployed as an “inverted full-back” by Rodgers, to allow quicker transitions into Barnes from the defence, whilst bolstering the passing lanes in the middle. A clever, and beneficial implementation.