Trading places in the middle of the Premier League will soon be forgotten should Leicester City reach the semi-finals of the Europa Conference League and Crystal Palace overcome Chelsea to reach the FA Cup final this week but this was another reminder of Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall quietly but assuredly making his mark as a proven Premier League talent.
The playmaker created Ademola Lookman’s opener before swerving home his first Premier League goal as Leicester extended their sound home run to set them in good heart for Thursday’s win-or-bust second-leg tie away to PSV Eindhoven. But once again the Leicester academy graduate, 23, impressed with his overall combination of stealth, touch and work-rate in his breakthrough season at this level.
“I thought Kiernan was outstanding,” Brendan Rodgers, the Leicester manager, said. “He’s a young player who since he came into the team is everything that represents a team of mine: honest, industry, works, presses and he’s got good quality. As a No 8, we’re looking for him to score and create goals. So I’m delighted with his quality and honesty.”
Leicester, who have lost only once at home in 14 matches in all competitions since November, are 11 points off sixth place in the Premier League but with three games in hand on West Ham. “We can’t stop till the final whistle goes,” Rodgers said. “It’s been a real challenge for us this season without our top players and now they are back, I can rest some, seven changes today. It’s going to be a big challenge for us [to qualify for Europe again through the league] but we’re going to fight till the very end and let’s see where it takes us.”
Palace, conceding for the first time in five games and losing for the first time in eight, made a game of it in the second half when Wilfried Zaha scored on the rebound from his retaken penalty but Leicester merited the win that enabled them to claim ninth place off their visitors.
With both teams’ sights set on upcoming cup adventures, it was perhaps not surprising that the first half was a slow-burning affair but Dewsbury-Hall made sure it caught fire with two crucial contributions in the six minutes before the break.
It was his astute pass, into the space inside and ahead of Lookman, that encouraged the on-loan winger to move away from Nathaniel Clyne onto the ball, take a touch inside Joachim Andersen, and fire in his sixth league goal of the season. On the front foot, James Justin had won the ball off Zaha just inside the Palace half to invite Youri Tielemans to feed Dewsbury-Hall in the build-up.
Although Kasper Schmeichel saved well down to his left from Jean-Philippe Mateta’s shot early on, Patrick Vieira admitted his side were not at the level they showed in Monday’s 3-0 win over Arsenal. “In the first half we didn’t compete well enough,” the Palace manager said. “But we didn’t get too high after good results and we don’t get too low. It is important we get that kind of consistency.”
Lookman, racing clear down the inside-left channel only to shoot wide, started well for Leicester and Dewsbury-Hall always looked one of the sparkier players on view, as only one of three surviving outfield starters from Thursday’s goalless draw with PSV, and his goal just before half-time ultimately proved the difference between the teams.
Marc Guéhi miscontrolled Justin’s forward pass to allow Patson Daka to make inroads down the right. The striker’s pull-back fell behind Dewsbury-Hall but the midfielder adapted, protected the ball from Cheikhou Kouayaté and turned to swerve in a fine shot into the top corner from the edge of the area.
The game ignited midway through the second half when Schmeichel twice saved Zaha’s penalty only for Palace’s leading scorer to make it 2-1. Tielemans stuck out the leg that offered Jordan Ayew contact to win the spot-kick.. The Leicester captain saved superbly down to his left to save Zaha’s first spot-kick only for VAR to espy that Caglar Soyuncu had encroached.
When Zaha opted to fire his retake down the middle, Schmeichel guessed correctly to save again, only for the Ivory Coast forward to nod home his 11th league goal of the season on the rebound. The Leicester fans started the pantomime, booing Zaha’s every touch for his melodramatic reactions to decisions, but this only fired up the villain of the piece. Leicester, amending their ways, saw the game out comfortably enough.
