Palace Prevail as Foxes Flounder

Crystal Palace earned a well deserved 2-1 victory over Leicester at the King Power Stadium this afternoon. The Eagles were strong, physical and well organised, with Zaha and Jedinak posing a potent threat throughout the first half in particular. Two Palace goals in 5 minutes, mid way through the first half, stunned City and left them with a mountain to climb. First, Schmeichel failed to deal with a corner in the 23rd minute, dropping the ball after colliding with his own player. Former Fox Damien Delaney fired home the loose ball to give the visitors the lead. Schmeichel's error may have affected his judgement for the corner which lead to the Eagles second goal. The ball was headed home by Ramage from the edge of the six yard box - Schmeichel was rooted to his line and perhaps should have challenged.

Pearson replaced Dyer with James on the half hour mark to try and sure up the midfield and to a certain extent it worked. James sat in front of the back four, allowing King and a disappointing Drinkwater to get forward more. Knockaert wasn't as effective as he has been in recent games either and City simply had too many players below par on the day. Having said that, the Foxes continued to press in the second half and certainly can't be criticised for a lack of effort. They came up against a better side on the day, as well as a referee who did them few favours. There were 4 good penalty shouts in the game, 3 of them to Leicester and if any had been awarded, it may have given the home side some impetus. As it was, King's 92nd minute goal was too little too late and didn't leave the Foxes enough time to draw level. It was a good finish from King, nodding home a super cross from Paul Konchesky.

Leicester will now rack up 450 miles with away trips to Watford next Saturday and Bolton the following Tuesday, two teams who are languishing in the bottom half of the Championship table. There may well be changes in personnel for those games. Marshall may be in line to replace Knockaert, who looked out of sorts today. Meanwhile, one of Waghorn, Schlupp or Futacs may deserve an opportunity to show what they can do in place of Jamie Vardy.