City 0 Crystal Palace 0
The pre-match odds were the same for a City win as for a Palace win, suggesting that punters found this one hard to call. And there proved to be little to choose between the teams in the match itself.
Fryatt’s injury forced City into a new formation for their starting line-up: 4-5-1, with Gilbert, Hobbs, Tunchev and Mattock at the back, Gradel, Davies, King, Berner and Dyer in midfield and Howard alone up front.
The first half produced few chances. The referee, Graham Laws, was kept busy with a number of petty fouls and Palace being caught regularly offside. City had far more possession, and closed down well in midfield. Palace resorted to poor quality long-range shots, breaks from defence and route-one clearances to their forwards which were all easily dealt with by the Leicester centre-backs. Indeed a couple of blocked half-chances for Hobbs aside, there was no shot on target by either team in the first half.
City’s closest opportunity was on 30 minutes, when the ball was rolled to Mattock from a free-kick 20-yeards out and his shot arrowed narrowly beyond the far left-hand post.
So, 0-0 at half-time, and City’s game plan seemed to be working fairly well against higher-league opposition. Palace were firm and physical, but had produced no chances. Howard was winning almost every header, and generally holding the ball up well, but there had been no real spark to create any clear-cut chances….
City started the second half brightly, with a reasonable shout for a penalty after 51 minutes after Davies caused panic by cutting into the Palace box.
After 57 minutes, Palace got their first corner of the match, which led to a decent strike from 20 yards which went over the bar. Dickov then came on as substitute for Berner and a couple of minutes later, an Andy King “special” 30-yard drive flew just over the bar.
In the 62nd minute, City created the only clear-cut chance of the entire match, when Howard was released one-on-one with the Palace keeper, but managed to chip the ball over from the edge of the box. It was a shame for Howard, whose play overall deserved some reward.
In the 73rd minute, Adams replaced Dyer – resulting in Gradel switching to left-wing, with Adams on the right flank.
Palace had their strongest spell of the game in the last 20 minutes. They had far more possession than earlier, and began to pass the ball in the midfield, which had not happened in the first half. Their best opportunity followed good work on the left, with a strong shot from 12 yards being blocked. This was a couple of minutes after an excellent long ball from Adams from defence had found Gradel, who cut into the box from the left wing and forced a good near-post save from the Palace keeper.
Full-time, and still 0-0. All-in-all, a draw was a fair result. Palace created little; they were physical throughout and City could not find a way to break them down. City dominated possession and played some constructive football, but could not find the goal-scoring chance.
Howard played well, and City’s two-centre-backs – Hobbs and Tunchev – were also dominant. Davies looked lively, particularly in the first half when he was the principal midfielder to chase onto Howard’s knock-downs.
Nigel Pearson has done an excellent job for City this season, so I criticise his judgement with some trepidation, but City looked far better before the Dickov substitution. Once City lost the extra midfielder, Palace began to have just enough time on the ball in midfield to begin passing the ball.
And, for all that Paul Dickov has made an outstanding contribution to Leicester City, he has so far contributed very little in his current spell at the club. I’m afraid he looks far slower than in his prime, and he was caught offside far too often. City need to find a regular third striker, after Fryatt and Howard who have each – in their own ways – done a good job this season. What price Ashley Chambers to be given a chance?
City: Martin, Gilbert, Hobbs, Tunchev, Mattock, Gradel, Andy King, Berner (Dickov 57), Davies, Dyer (Adams 73), Howard. Subs Not Used: Campbell, Morrison, Porter, Chambers, Powell.
Crystal Palace: Speroni, Clyne, Fonte, Lawrence, Hill, Griffit (Moses 78), Butterfield, Danns, Carle, Ifill, Lee. Subs Not Used: Flahavan, Scannell, Ertl, Hills, Comley, Andrew.
Attendance: 15,976
The views expressed in this report are the opinions of the Trust member nominated to file the report only and do not represent the views of the Foxes Trust organisation