Honours were even as Leeds United conceded late on against Leicester City in a key relegation battle.
It was a scrappy game under the lights at Elland Road, as both sets of players gave one hundred and ten percent in their efforts to gain all three points.
Leicester arguably dominated the proceedings of the first half, with spells of possession allowing for them to create the most notable chances of the first half.
However, it was Leeds who took the lead off a Luis Sinisterra header after Jack Harrison expertly hung the ball up to his opposite winger. The game continued in a scrappy fashion with both sides demonstrating fragility and the ability to lose the ball in defensive positions.
In the second half, Leicester continued to apply the pressure with Leeds gaining respite off the rare times they ventured forward.
Eventually Leicester’s hardwork payed its dividends when James Maddison found Jamie Vardy for the 36 year old to level things up.
The match-winning chance however fell to the opposite number nine, Patrick Bamford. The striker found himself unmarked off a corner only to fire wide from an opportunity that he could of only dreamed of prior to the game.
With a point apiece, the makeup of the bottom of the table does not change for now, with Leicester City remaining in 17th place while Leeds stay one point above them in 16th position.
Story of the Match
Javi Gracia chose to keep faith with his goalkeeper Illan Meslier, who made his 32nd start of the campaign. Luke Ayling and Junior Firpo both came into the starting eleven, with Rasmus Kristensen dropping to the bench and Max Wöber missing out due to an injury.
Liam Cooper retained his place at the heart of Leeds’ backline, playing alongside Robin Koch, who incidentally scored an own goal in the 2-0 loss to Leicester City in October back at the King Power Stadium. In midfield, Weston McKennie and Marc Roca made their fifth successive start together, and repaid the faith of Gracia with a gritty midfield display.
In attack, Gracia preferred Luis Sinisterra to come in over Crysencio Summerville. The tricky wideman was joined by Jack Harrison on the opposite wing while Rodrigo and Patrick Bamford played as a strike partnership through the middle.
In the opposite dugout, Dean Smith, aided by John Terry, chose to select a similar side to the one that claimed the vital win over Wolves.
Timothy Castagne and Victor Kristiansen received their sixth successive start together in the full back positions. Smith chose to select Wout Faes and Çağlar Söyüncü as his centre-back pairing, with the latter falling back under the favour of Smith.
Defensive midfielder Boubakary Soumaré partnered Youri Tielemans, while the most notable changes were the arrivals of James Maddison and Harvey Barnes in attack with veteran Jamie Vardy and Patson Daka dropping to the bench.
Barnes was joined by Brazilian winger Tetê on the opposite flank while Kelechi Iheanacho led the line, having scored in Leicester’s two previous Premier League games.
Tuesday night’s relegation battle started very lively with both sets of players seemingly understanding the importance of the game for their respective clubs survival hopes.
Leicester arguably dominated the earlier stages, and started to grow in confidence. Maddison and Barnes, who have nearly half of Leicester’s total goals this season, linked up early on to win Leicester the first corner of the game.
Maddison swung in the corner with pace, and it bounced around the box for Soumaré to poke it to Tielemans, who was waiting on the edge of the box.
The Dutchman, with his first touch, lashed the ball into the far left hand top corner, silencing Elland Road with one clinical swipe of his right foot.
However, the jubilation of the Leicester away fans did not last long with a VAR check swiftly being undertaken to discover that Soumaré was in an offside position from the initial corner.
This did not dissuade the Foxes from continuing to apply the pressure with Maddison and Barnes being the most lively going forward, and starting to dominate the ball.
Dean Smith’s men continued to dominate the possession and create the chances, with Barnes being fed through by Iheanacho only to be denied by a Liam Cooper block.
In the 17th minute, Leeds started to create their own issues with the usually assured Cooper giving it away to Maddison, who fed Iheanacho down the right hand side. The Nigerian forward turned in on the flank dinking it to the far post where Maddison had continued his run, only for the midfielder to poke it wide while at full stretch.
Tight, scrappy first half decided by Sinisterra header
The game continued to be open with Leeds eventually capitalising to Leicester’s misfortune.
Juventus loanee Weston McKennie swiftly played the ball to Harrison from a Luke Ayling throw in, with the winger easily drifting past Kristensen, before effortlessly hanging the ball up to the back post where Sinisterra jumped the highest to nod past Daniel Iversen in goal.
The goal from Sinisterra, which would be the only on target effort of the half, unsurprisingly livened up Elland Road.
Tackles continued to fly in with Maddison winning a free kick on the edge of the box after skilfully nutmegging Firpo, however Maddison fired the ball over every blue shirt in the box to the pleasure of the Leeds fans, who were quick to jeer.
In the 32nd minute, goalscorer Sinisterra had to be replaced after suffering an injury in an earlier tackle to Söyüncü. This led to Summerville being brought on.
Before the break, Leicester started to apply increased pressure, seemingly waking up in their search of an equaliser. However, efforts came to no avail with no clear cut chances being created. With a mix of defensive rigour and clinical attacking play, Leeds led at the break.
The second half at Elland Road started much like the first, with every 50/50 duel being contested, and every challenge potentially providing reason for Paul Tierney to blow his whistle.
In the 50th minute, the ball dropped to Rodrigo after clumsy defending from Soumaré, however the forward found his effort eventually blocked by Faes.
Minutes later, Soumaré was booked after he brought down Rodrigo after losing the ball in midfield. In addition, his opposite number Roca found himself booked for a late challenge on Maddison, joining Luke Ayling and Rodrigo in the book from the first half.
Almost ten minutes into the second half, Leicester created their first chance with Iheanacho keeping the ball in from a Faes flick on, only for Barnes to fire over the Leeds goal.
Leeds started to find their feet in the second 45, applying pressure with Ayling winning a corner in the 65th minute. The ball was cleared, but subsequently recycled with Summerville flicking the ball past Tielemans to only be brought down, with the Dutchman going into the book.
Veteran Vardy proves timeless worth
On the stroke of the 70th minute, Jamie Vardy, who had scored just the one goal this season, was brought on for the quiet Tetē.
It was substitute Patson Daka who went the closest to netting Leicester’s equaliser with Iheanacho initially firing a fierce shot towards the goal, but it was saved by the two hands of Meslier, before the French goalkeeper expertly recovered to deny Daka from the rebound.
The expressions of the Leicester fans continued to sour with the clock ticking as their side struggled to break through a Leeds side that was being roared on by its home crowd.
In the 80th minute, it was Leicester’s veteran that proved his timeless worth yet again. Maddison poked it through for Vardy to calmly place it past Meslier for his 135th goal of his Premier League career, and his second and most important goal of their season yet.
Leicester began to dominate play, and just minutes later, Maddison again poked through Daka who with his left foot played it across to Vardy who couldn’t believe his luck as he smashed it into the net.
However it was too good to be true with the linesman quickly raising his flag to chalk off the goal.
In the 89th minute, Leeds came the closest to snatching all 3 points with Harrison swinging in a corner for Roca to meet it with a fine header, only for it to be saved by Iversen and cleared off the line by Kristensen.
Seconds later, Leeds won another corner which again found Roca, who directed it towards the back post where Leeds’ usually clinical Bamford fired wide from a tap in position, spurning Leeds’ best chance of the game.
Leicester continued to apply the pressure late on, and when the ball was played into Vardy in the final minute of added time, there was audible panic around Elland Road. Luckily for Leeds, Leicester’s efforts were eventually blocked.
With the full time whistle blown, it was a point a piece, with both teams probably feeling they could have won it.
The point leaves both sides firmly in the relegation battle, and everything to play for. Leicester City currently sit on 29 points, just one point above 18th placed Everton meanwhile Leeds have reached the 30 point mark ahead of the weekend’s game against Gary O’Neils Bournemouth, before a challenging period of fixtures sees them face Manchester City, Newcastle United, West Ham and Tottenham Hotspur.
For Dean Smith and his Leicester side, there is still much work to be done with Sean Dyche’s Everton up next, as the relegation battle intensifies for all involved.
Player of the Match - James Maddison
Maddison was a stand out performer in what was a scrappy game of football. Every time the ball arrived at the feet of the English midfielder, he proved his worth with elegant nutmegs on both Firpo and Aaronson as well as winning free kicks in promising positions.
His most influential contribution was when he poked through Vardy to score Leicester’s equaliser, claiming his seventh assist of the season.
If Leicester are to stay up this season they will need Maddison to continue to produce displays like this.