BY Tomas Malloy
LEICESTER City stretched their lead at the top of the Barclays Premier league to three points tonight after a hard earned 2-2 draw against West Bromwich Albion at the King Power stadium.
Salomon Rondon put the away team 1-0 up against the run of play early on, but the rest of the first half was all City with Danny Drinkwater and Andy King putting them in front at half time.
Gardner’s well taken free kick levelled the score four minutes into the second half, and although the home team dominated territory and possession for the remainder of the game, they could not find a winner.
Leicester City pegged West Brom into their own half for the first ten minutes, however they did little to trouble Ben Foster, and against the run of play Rondon shrugged off a poor challenge from Robert Huth to cooly slot the first goal of the game from six yards.
The home team continued to attack brightly thereafter, but numerous chances were squandered and they were yet to get a shot on target as the game entered the second quarter, the absence of N’Golo Kante was obvious as City struggled to build attacks, and West Brom looked comfortable sitting back on their one goal lead.
However, a jinking Riyad Mahrez proved to be the catalyst for City as a string of big chances followed for the home team, and on the half hour mark Drinkwater’s thirty metre effort ricocheted off a defender and looped over a flailing Foster to make the score 1-1.
Embed from Getty ImagesLeicester continued to frustrate West Brom for the remainder of the half, with a James Vardy header hitting the woodwork, and they eventually got their second goal a minute before the break, when Mahrez’s superb flick-back found King on the edge of the box and he made no mistake.
Just four minutes after the break, the scores were level again, and Leicester could only watch as Craig Gardner’s exquisite thirty metre free kick curled into the top left hand corner.
The game then hung in the balance for 35 minutes, with only the bar stopping Shinji Okazaki putting City back in front, before Sessignon put a guilt-edged chance over the bar at the other end.
Wes Morgan and Mahrez had late chances for Leicester as they battled hard in the last five minutes, but in the end it was a disappointing night for City who may feel they should have won a game they dominated for large periods.
Embed from Getty ImagesLeicester
1. Schmeichel, 17. Simpson, 6. Huth, 5. Morgan, 28. Fuchs, 26. Mahrez, 4. Drinkwater, 10. King, 11. Albrighton, 20. Okazaki, 9. Vardy.
Substitutes: 13. Amartey, 15. Schlupp, 22. Gray, 23. Ulloa, 27. Wasilewski, 32. Schwarzer, 33. Inler
West Brom
1. Foster, 25. Dawson, 23. McAuley, 3. Olsson, 4. Chester, 29. Sessegnon, 24. Fletcher, 5. Yacob, 8. Gardner, 33. Rondón, 18. Berahino
Substitutes: 10. Anichebe, 13. Myhill, 14. McClean, 16. Gamboa, 17. Lambert, 20. Pritchard, 30. Sandro
Referee:
Mark Clattenburg
