Leicester and Everton both threw away leads to play out an exciting 2-2 draw between the relegation candidates on Monday night.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s 15th-minute penalty had Sean Dyche’s Toffees ahead but a quick response from the hosts saw Caglar Soyuncu and Jamie Vardy send the Foxes 2-1 up into the break, though James Maddison was crucially denied from the penalty spot by Jordan Pickford.
Everton’s pressure at the start of the second half told when Alex Iwobi equalised but neither side could find their nerve to net a decisive winner and both remain in massive trouble at the wrong end of the Premier League table.
Everton were offered the first chance to strike. Referee Michael Oliver pointed to the spot as Calvert-Lewin went to ground under pressure from Timothy Castagne and the Toffees striker made no mistake from 12 yards, belting his penalty down the middle.
The visitors handed parity back to the hosts midway through the first half.
Harvey Barnes’ looping cross was headed back across the box to centre back partner Soyuncu, who stretched to convert his first Premier League goal since October 2021.
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Just over half an hour into proceedings and Leicester had turned the game around. Maddison picked up possession from Iwobi’s wayward pass and released Vardy, who comfortably rounded Pickford and slotted the Foxes into the lead.
Daniel Iversen sprung into action to smartly deny Dwight McNeil. The Everton winger struck his effort well towards the bottom corner but the Danish stopper saved with a strong right hand. Calvert-Lewin then nearly converted McNeil’s low cross before Vardy raced down the other end, seeing his chip loop over Pickford but come back off the crossbar.
Toffees captain Seamus Coleman was substituted with an injury before Leicester spurned a chance to take a 3-1 lead.
Iwobi lost possession and Maddison launched another counter attack, setting Barnes away. His cross struck the arm of Michael Keane, with referee Oliver pointing to the spot. However, Maddison’s straight effort was read and batted away by Pickford before half time finally came.
Calvert-Lewin stung the feet of Iversen as Everton ramped up the pressure, before a deserved equaliser came in the 54th minute. Iwobi, who had given away possession in bad areas earlier, arrived on the end of a half-cleared cross and drilled in to set up an entertaining final 30 minutes.
The lack of quality in the final third became more evident late on, even with each side’s defending looking rushed and desperate.
Abdoulaye Doucoure did come close to snatching a late winner for the visitors, but his powerful strike from distance was well clawed away from danger by Iversen. The huffing and puffing came to an end in an entertaining relegation scrap, though a point suits neither side at this stage of the season.
Leicester jump out of the relegation zone into 16th, level on points with Leeds and Nottingham Forest below them. Everton are down in 19th with 29 points.
GK: Daniel Iversen (8); RB: Timothy Castagne (6), CB: Wesley Faes (7), CB: Caglar Soyuncu (9), LB: Luke Thomas (7); CM: Boubakary Soumare (7), CM: Wilfred Ndidi (7); RW: Youri Tielemans (8), AM: James Maddison (8), LW: Harvey Barnes (7); ST: Jamie Vardy (8).
GK: Jordan Pickford (7); RB: Seamus Coleman (6), CB: Michael Keane (6), CB: James Tarkowski (7), LB: Vitalii Mykolenko (6); CM: James Garner (6), CM: Idrissa Gueye (6); CM: Abdoulaye Doucoure (7), RW: Alex Iwobi (8), ST: Dominic Calvert-Lewin (8); LW: Dwight McNeil (7).
Credit: 90min.com
