Leicester 2-1 Palace: Tactically adaptable Foxes push towards UCL

The Crystal Palace structure out of possession caused a lot of problems for Leicester City, as attempting to play centrally – into Kelechi Iheanacho or James Maddison (the two players tasked with receiving the ball in advanced areas to progress play) were covered by the three narrow central-midfielders. Early into the game, the Foxes tried to force these passing lanes resulting in a loss of possession via an interception.

The compact block of the Eagles also created “stacks” on the ball-side of the pitch. Essentially, when Luke Thomas (LWB) was in possession, Crystal Palace would suffocate that side of the pitch by pressing with their two wide players (right-back and right-midfielder) and also shift their block of central-midfielders. If Leicester City had understood the space on the opposing wing (available through a switch of play) then they could’ve optimally used the space they had created, instead, they recycled play through the defence and allowed the block to reset.

Hodgson’s men led at the break, and that was a perfect execution of their out of possession structure suffocating the Foxes and then triggering their in possession shape to devastate in transition. Eberechi Eze’s ability to drive with the ball and carry through the lines created a one-on-one for Wilfried Zaha – who maintained his excellent record against the Foxes with a nice finish.

The start of the second-half was immediately different. Initially, Thomas’ positioning as the left wing-back was almost exclusively as a left-midfielder (playing as high – or at times higher – than the midfield pivot) to stretch the oppositions laterally. This was combined with Jonny Evans – who completed the most accurate long passes (12) of the entire Premier League weekend – playing long into Thomas (who had space after Palace were stacking the opposing side).