The Foxes succumb to a heavy 5-0 loss away at Selhurst Park rounding off a disappointing April where they have only managed to take one point from four games.
Claude Puel’s Leicester struggled to get any foothold during the game, going into the half-time break two goals down. The home side’s position was strengthened when Leicester were reduced to ten men when Marc Albrighton was shown a straight red card in the 56th minute of the game.
Crystal Palace finished the game brightly scoring three goals in the final stages of the second half.
Although disappointing throughout, how did the visiting foxes perform individually?
Defence
Ben Hamer - 4/10: In the sticks for the injured Kasper Schmeichel, Ben Hamer had an afternoon to forget. City’s number 12 had to collect the ball from the back of his net five times during the match.
Although not completely to blame, the shot-stopper looked nervous throughout. Most notably when he punched the ball back towards his own goal from a Palace corner which forced Kelechi Iheanacho to clear the ball off the line.
Ben Chilwell - 5/10: A difficult afternoon for the young left-back against an in form Wilfried Zaha and James McArthur. He gave Zaha too much time and space on the ball for the first goal of the game. His crosses often failed to meet any City player.
Wes Morgan - 3/10: Non-existent at times. Struggled with the pace of the game and that of Zaha and Ruben Loftus-Cheek who seemed to quite literally run rings around the Foxes’ captain.
Harry Maguire - 5/10: Seemed to be doing most of the running at the back for Leicester. Caused some aerial threats upfront. Conceded the late penalty by bringing down Christian Benteke, who converted, to round off a miserable afternoon for the Foxes.
Marc Albrighton - 3/10: An out of character bad performance for Albrighton. Arguably playing out of position at right-back, the former Aston Villa man struggled to cope with the combinations of Zaha and Loftus-Cheek.
Was shown a straight red in the 56th minute when a simple ball over the top saw him scampering back with Zaha in pursuit who he eventually pulled down.
Midfield
Demarai Gray - 4/10: Was at fault for Palace’s third of the game when Mamadou Sakho passed beyond Gray who was caught ball watching allowing Loftus-Cheek to easily get behind him and skilfully get around Hamer to slot the ball into the net. Offered little to no threat on the wing.
Wilfred Ndidi - 4/10: The Nigerian’s performance was lacking his usual control of the midfield. Was caught out often and dived helplessly into many tackles. Was replaced in the early stages of the 2nd half by Aleksandar Dragović after suffering an injury.
Hamza Choudury - 3/10: A hard afternoon for the youngster who chased the ball for much of the game. Was replaced at half time by Adrien Silva who he ironically started ahead of.
Riyad Mahrez - 4/10: A lazy performance from the Algerian. Lost possession on a number of occasions. Rarely tracked back. Another player who struggled against Zaha.
Attack
Kelechi Iheanacho - 4/10: Cleared James Tomkins’ early header off line at 0-0. Gave away possession cheaply too often.
Lacked any sort of real service and therefore struggled despite showing some effort. Was substituted at half time by Fousseni Diabaté.
Jamie Vardy - 5/10: Received little support throughout game. Had an effort cleared off the line by Joel Ward.
The striker’s usual tenacity of closing down was not enough on a terrible afternoon for Leicester.
Substitutes
Adrien Silva - 4/10: Brought into the game at the interval in place of Choudhury only to lose his usual midfield partner Ndidi five minutes later. Made little impact and struggled against Loftus-Cheek. Looked low on confidence.
Fousseni Diabaté - 5/10: Another player to be introduced during the half-time break in place of Iheanacho. Did make some difference with some good intensity, good runs and a couple crosses into the final third.
Aleksandar Dragović - 5/10: Found himslef starting back on the bench to make way for the returning skipper Morgan. Came on to replace the injured Ndidi in the 51st minute and did OK.
Despite the scoreline, the Austrian actually shored up the defence that had changed to a back three with his introduction. Produced some good interceptions.