Picked once more ahead of Brad Guzan, goalkeeper Mark Bunn saved a penalty to keep Aston Villa in the game against Leicester City, setting up what eventually finished as a 1-1 draw against the league leaders.
With Shinji Okazaki having given the Foxes an early lead, the pressure was mounted on Villa when Aly Cissokho saw a penalty awarded against him for handball. However, Bunn saved from Riyad Mahrez, proving the catalyst for a fightback which was marked by Rudy Gestede's equaliser in the second half.
Richards again on the bench as Villa start slowly
Bunn wasn't the only slightly surprising inclusion for Villa, with Remi Garde keeping the same team that had beaten Crystal Palace 1-0 a few days earlier. This meant that Libor Kozak kept his place up front, and captain Micah Richards was again on the bench.
It was a fairly scrappy start to the game, with Villa not wanting to go forward too much and leave themselves at risk of being counter-attacked. Jamie Vardy was the figurehead of the visitors' attacking, heading wide from ex-Villa winger Marc Albrighton's free-kick.
Whilst Bunn was getting booked at one end, taking down Vardy when the striker tried to round him, Villa did get a chance at the other thanks to some slack defending from Robert Huth. The German allowed Kozak to get the wrong side of him, presenting the forward with a chance to shoot, but his effort didn't really test Kasper Schmeichel.
Okazaki on hand to put Foxes ahead
Kozak was made to regret the miss, with Okazaki putting Leicester ahead less than 10 minutes later. It originally looked like it would be Vardy's goal, with a brilliant flick having Mark Bunn back-pedalling, only for him to claw it out of goal, straight to Okazaki who slammed the ball into the net.
Bunn's penalty saves sparks Villa's comeback
That stung Villa, who failed to respond, Cissokho giving away the penalty a matter of minutes later as he handled when attempting to block Riyah Mahrez's shot. The Algerian stepped up confidently to take the penalty, placing it down the middle, only for Bunn to push it away brilliantly with his feet.
It was from then on that the home side kicked on, going toe-to-toe with a team that many had expected to see them off easily. Villa had much of the possession, but it did take them a while to start creating good chances, with some bizarre refereeing decisions not helping matters.
Kozak was competing in a furious battle with Robert Huth, which resulted in the big German swinging an arm towards him as Ashley Westwood floated a ball into the box, but nothing was given.
It was perhaps with this in mind that Remi Garde introduced Rudy Gestede, with the aim of giving Leicester's back-line two big men to stop, rather than just the one.
Gestede nets vital equaliser
It paid off, handsomely, as Gestede grabbed the equaliser with little under 15 minutes left on the clock. The ball was deflected sharply into his path, allowing him to bundle into the area and see a shot bounce off Wes Morgan and fly into the net. They all count, so is said.
Villa took even more momentum from their equaliser and did push for a winning goal, but the game was disrupted by constant fouls, and handbags between Leandro Bacuna and the aforementioned Vardy.
Kozak won a free-kick deep into added time, but Jordan Veretout's ball in had little quality on it, with Villa seemingly running out of puff in their search for all three points.
