BY JORDAN HUGGINS
After a rambunctious start, Leicester have had to settle with a point against 13th placed West Bromwich.
Goals from Danny Drinkwater & Andy King were not enough for all three points following a 2-2 draw at the King Power Stadium in front of 32,018 fans.
The game started quickly with an incident involving Christian Fuchs only 30 seconds removed from kick off, almost against the run of play 11 minutes in Darren Fletcher rolled a crisp through ball into the path of Solomon Rondon, who overpowered Robert Huth and calmly converted just outside the six yard box.
The game calmed down after 15 minutes as Leicester continually threatened through Vardy, Albrigton, and Okazaki, and West Brom through Rondon and Gardner.
It was clear Leicester were missing N’Golo Kante as they were continually forced to build from the back with Wes Morgan pressing forward frequently. After three clear scoring opportunities it was looking like it wasn’t to be Leicester’s day until lady luck showed up and a low driven shot from Danny Drinkwater deflected wickedly to make it 1-1 in the 31st minute.
A 36th minute header by Jamie Vardy hit the post and proved a signal of intent from the league leaders. Moments later, Mahrez, following a smart reverse pass by Albrighton hesitated and pulled his shot high into the crowd.
Looking to provide a much needed spark before the end of the half, Marc Albrighton made himself the man for the occasion, his driven cross field pass found Mahrez who flicked the ball into the path of Andy King and he made no mistake converting to put Leicester 2-1 up on the stroke of half time.
In true Premier League fashion, the second half saw West Brom respond immediately on the 49th minute as Craig Gardner converted a sublime free kick into the top left corner leaving Kasper Schmeichel in no mans land and pulling the game level to 2-2.
Okazaki come close (56th minutes) but the woodwork again savied West Brom blushes after some lacklustre defending.
Substitutes made on the 62nd minute saw Marc Albrighton come off for Jeffery Schlupp and Leonardo Ulloa come on for Shinji Okazaki
Two minutes removed from his introduction Schlupp almost restored the lead with a low drive that was scooped up neatly by Foster, moments later Rondon skied the ball in front of a keeperless goal following a well orchestrated attack.
Leicester remained on top late into the game but West Brom showed great fighting spirit throughout.
Mahrez then squandered a great chance right at the tail end attempting an audacious bicycle kick deep into stoppage time. A late defensive substitution from Tony Pulis made it clear that this was a satisfactory point for the Baggies.
The last chance of the game fell to Leonardo Ulloa, who mistimed a golden opportunity to repeat his late heroics against Norwich, Leicester remain top of the league by three points.
