Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall was the star as Leicester City leapfrogged Crystal Palace on the table after a narrow win at the King Power Stadium.
Leicester City continue to show improvements in the late-season run-in as they managed to defeat Crystal Palace at the King Power. Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall was the star of the show as the youngster scored and assisted in a game for the first time.
The Foxes began on the front foot and stamped their authority with a few efforts towards Vicente Guaita’s goal. Ademola Lookman missed a good chance after Luke Thomas had set the attacker up. The former Everton man made amends later on in the period, although much of the credit should be reserved for Dewsbury-Hall.
Dewsbury-Hall timed his pass perfectly to Lookman, who took one touch and squeezed it past the Crystal Palace keeper to open the scoring. Dewsbury-Hall then turned scorer as he collected Patson Daka’s cut-back and slammed it past Guaita from just inside the box.
In the second half, as Crystal Palace tried to get back into the game, there was plenty of drama with a penalty incident. After Wilfried Zaha missed his initial spot-kick, the referee ordered it to be retaken following an encroachment issue. Zaha took the second one and missed again, which fortunately rebounded and fell kindly enough for him to head the ball home.
FULL-TIME Leicester 2-1 Crystal Palace
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall stars as the hosts leapfrog Crystal Palace into 9th place #LEICRY pic.twitter.com/8wkmxmLOqu
— Premier League (@premierleague) April 10, 2022
The goal sparked Crystal Palace into revival mode and later on, resulted in a goalmouth scramble, Kasper Schmeichel held his nerve and collected the ball, which was also the Eagles’ last notable attempt at the target.
Leicester held their ground and collected the three points, and will now look forward to the second leg of their UEFA Europa Conference League quarter-final. Meanwhile, for Crystal Palace, it was a blow to their preparations for the upcoming FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea. Here’s how the players fared as Leicester City beat Crystal Palace at the King Power Stadium.
Leicester City
Kasper Schmeichel: 7/10
Schmeichel made two penalty saves and should considering himself unfortunate for the ball to rebound towards Wilfried Zaha, who eventually scored Crystal Palace’s consolation goal. He held his nerve in the goalmouth scramble to help keep the score in favour of Leicester City.
-Crystal Palace awarded penalty.
-Wilf Zaha sees Schmeichel save his penalty.
-VAR check for encroachment.
-Penalty to be retaken.
-Wilf Zaha sees Schmeichel save his penalty again.
-He scores from the rebound.A rollercoaster couple of minutes at the King Power.#LEICRY pic.twitter.com/YU1UV30DcO
— BetVictor (@BetVictor) April 10, 2022
James Justin: 6.5/10
Justin was tasked with containing Zaha on his flank and defensively, the full-back did a good job. However, his product was still sub-par, as the right-back was barely useful in the final third.
Daniel Amartey: 7/10
Amartey fared well against the physical presence of Jean-Philippe Mateta and did not let the Crystal Palace forward bully him. He held his ground and made sure the attacking threats were nullified on his side.
Caglar Soyuncu: 5.5/10
Soyuncu was defensively alright, although the incident with the retaken penalty was baffling. The Leicester defender was almost five yards inside the box when Zaha took his spot-kick, which showed a lack of awareness. The mistake eventually cost the Foxes, despite Schmeichel saving both penalties.
Luke Thomas: 6.5/10
Thomas was a real presence down the left-hand side, although his end product was sub-par. He did provide one good ball for Lookman early on but defensively, he performed his job to perfection.
Youri Tielemans: 5/10
Tielemans had an average game on the pitch, although the telling moment came when he conceded the penalty. Despite all the drama that followed, Zaha’s rebound strike put the Foxes under tremendous pressure from that point onwards.
Nampalys Mendy: 6/10
Mendy put in a composed performance, although he was unusually progressive with his passing. The midfielder barely gave the ball away, providing a solid base for Leicester to operate with.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall: 8/10
A terrific display from Dewsbury-Hall, who scored and assisted in the same game for the first time. It was a big goal, and he will be delighted it turned out to be the match-winner.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall's game by numbers vs. Crystal Palace:
58 touches
18 passes in final third
9 duels contested
7 duels won
7 final third entries
7x possession won
3 tackles
3 fouls won
2 shots
1 shot on target
1 goal
1 assistKiernan Dewsbury-Baller. ? pic.twitter.com/el9YF4Pshs
— Squawka (@Squawka) April 10, 2022
James Maddison: 6.5/10
Maddison proved a problem for Crystal Palace’s defence, as he continued to attack the backline. He could have had a penalty after Ward shoved him and ended the day without getting on the scoresheet.
Paston Daka: 6/10
Daka was one of the main pressers for Leicester and did a fine job in that role. He also ended the day positively by getting an assist for Dewsbury-Hall’s strike.
Ademola Lookman: 7/10
Lookman did not produce the most threatening performance, although whatever he did proved effective. While he should have forced the goalkeeper into a save early on, Lookman made amends by scoring the opening goal, setting the tone for Leicester.
60% – Of the 770 players to have scored 10+ goals in the Premier League, only Henrikh Mkhitaryan (77% – 10/13) has scored a higher share of their goals on a Sunday than Leicester's Ademola Lookman (6/10). Holy. pic.twitter.com/WF3yAuhRQv
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) April 10, 2022
SUBSTITUTES
Harvey Barnes: 6/10
Barnes provided some fresh impetus to the attacking side of the pitch and did his job after coming on.
Kelechi Iheanacho: 5.5/10
Iheanacho was involved after coming on without making any significant impact on the scoreline.
Timothy Castagne: N/A
Did not play enough to warrant a rating.
Crystal Palace
Vicente Guaita: 5/10
Guaita did not have the best day at the office, as he should have done better for Leicester’s goals. Otherwise, he was decent in the box and commanded the area well whenever necessary.
Nathaniel Clyne: 5/10
Clyne was found out positionally for the opener as he was wrong-footed. He did provide some support going into the final third, but overall. the performance was average.
Joachim Andersen: 4/10
Andersen struggled to deal with Leicester’s high press and was terrible when under pressure. His passing was erratic, and he provided no assurance in the backline.
Marc Guehi: 4.5/10
In an otherwise usual performance, Guehi slipped in that one moment which allowed Dewsbury-Hall to score the second Leicester goal. It certainly cost his team all three points in the end.
Tyrick Mitchell: N/A
Tyrick Mitchell’s yellow card in the 32nd minute today was his first in approx 4,291 minutes of football for #CPFC – a run stretching across 51 matches.
His last yellow before today was in the 63rd minute of the 1-1 draw with Brighton on October 18th 2020. pic.twitter.com/wdDWtWbcrS
— Mark Wyatt (@markgwyatt) April 10, 2022
Mitchell left the field with a knock, although the substitution might have been a precaution than an actual injury.
Conor Gallagher: 4/10
Gallagher failed to get a foothold in the game despite the recent good form he has been in for Crystal Palace. The English midfielder could not find space or create chances for his teammates.
Cheikhou Kouyate: 5/10
Kouyate was unable to prevent Dewsbury-Hall from scoring. Otherwise, he was constantly ousted out of midfield battles by Leicester’s Mendy and Tielemans to a great extent.
Jeffrey Schlupp: 7/10
Schlupp proved he was Crystal Palace’s best player on the pitch with a relentless performance, threatening the Leicester defence. Unfortunately, he could not assert his dominance in the right way to help the team get something in the end.
Jordan Ayew: 5/10
Ayew spent most of the game in anonymity and then popped up to win the penalty. Overall, he was ineffective to make an impact in the final third.
Jean Philippe-Mateta: 4/10
Mateta had joy early in the game as he threatened to break down the backline. However, he found it difficult to get past Amartey and eventually faded away.
Wilfried Zaha: 5/10
Wilfred Zaha decides to do this whilst his team are 2-0 down and after missing 2 penalties in a row.
Absolute manchild. pic.twitter.com/SFJwPQNpO0
— Henry ? (@WFCHenry) April 10, 2022
Zaha found it hard to influence the game, as he was thoroughly missing the presence of Mitchell from the left flank. Ward failed to provide any support for the Ivory Coast international. He did get a goal back but saw two penalties get saved by Schmeichel.
SUBSTITUTES
Joel Ward: 4/10
Ward did a decent job in an unfamiliar position, although the experienced defender’s lack of support for Zaha left the Ivory Coast international to fend for himself.
James McArthur: 4/10
He came on and kept things ticking in midfield, although his passing was terrible.
Eberechi Eze: 5.5/10
Eze tried to take the ball forward whenever possible but had limited support from teammates and the front three.
