Foxes of Leicester
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Leicester v Crystal Palace: Foxes taking Champions League place

By Elliot Mackness

Leicester City's Nigerian striker Kelechi Iheanacho (L) is congratulated by Northern Irish manager Brendan Rodgers (Photo by ANDREW BOYERS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Leicester City's Nigerian striker Kelechi Iheanacho (L) is congratulated by Northern Irish manager Brendan Rodgers (Photo by ANDREW BOYERS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images) /
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Leicester City’s Nigerian striker Kelechi Iheanacho (L) and English striker Jamie Vardy (Photo by ANDREW BOYERS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images) /

A second half to remember!

21:05: Crystal Palace free kick for the second half, with no second half changes yet.

(1-1) 21:08: GOAL for TIMOTHY CASTAGNE (after a handball check)! I thought Nacho had missed the opportunity to finish, but Castagne runs in to link up and score the goal to equalise! Leicester City looking much more decisive after half time.

21:13: A recovery run from Evans saves us from going 1-2 down. Thank goodness we have such a composed defender.

21:18: Corner to Leicester City, another wasted opportunity. I will say, Leicester have been better since half time, more decisive in their passing.

21:26: Corner to Crystal Palace after another break after the Foxes cheaply gave away the ball.

21:28: Marc Albrighton and Ayoze Perez coming on for Leicester City; with Thomas and Maddison making way. This is not a tactical change, though Albrighton will be better at getting crosses into the box.

Crystal Palace’s tactics have been rather predictable, which is why I am surprised we were caught out so early in the first half. Palace have sat back quite a lot, creating a back five and mid four with Zaha staying high up for the break.

21:33: Another corner for Leicester City. The most corners we have had a single match? Another corner from the corner! We are not very clinical from set pieces.

21:36: WHAT A MISSED OPPORTUNITY. Vardy at a tight angle completely alone attacking the goal, and shoots across the face of goal. In the final 15 minutes of the match, Leicester are the highest goal scorers at this time, Palace are the highest ‘conceders’ at this time. Tielemans also misses a great chance.

21:38: HE IS MAGIC! Kelechi Iheanacho controls a beautiful long ball from Jonny Evans and a magic rocket straight into the back of the net. No chance for the keeper there. And we are going seven points clear of West Ham.

21:51: Another corner again for the King Power side. Nothing from that.

Iheanacho has been fantastic this season, positionally excellent and his control has been sublime. The Vardy-Nacho partnership breeds goals for the latter, with the pace and creativity of Vardy perfectly matching the positioning and finishing of Nacho.

Brief tactical analysis: Brendan Rodgers has got this right, they have been almost excessively patient throughout the match in terms of creating opportunities, and have been hit only a couple of times on the break by Zaha and Eze.

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There was plenty of missed opportunities in the second half, especially after Perez came on. Two on one and three on one situations completely fluffed by either Vardy or Perez. This match could have been 4-1 had all these been scored.