Crystal Palace 0-2 Leicester City

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Goalscorer Jamie Vardy lauded Leicester’s “attacking talent” as his side moved back into third with victory over Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.

 

The 32-year-old sealed victory with an 80th-minute goal after Caglar Soyuncu had headed the Foxes into the lead with his first goal for the club.

 

Second-half substitute Demarai Gray provided the assist for Vardy, while both James Maddison and Youri Tielemans impressed again in midfield.

 

Vardy said: “The creativity and attacking talent we have is incredible. We have so many options and it can only benefit us.”

 

The Foxes are now level with Chelsea on 23 points, but with a better goal difference, and just two points behind second-placed Manchester City.

 

They have one more point than they did at this stage during their title-winning campaign in 2015-16.

 

Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers said he did not want to put any pressure on his players.

 

“My senior players are first-class,” said the former Liverpool and Celtic boss. “The spirit is very good and they understand we are trying to create something here we can sustain.

 

“People asked about European football at the beginning of the season and I said, ‘listen, we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves’ because there are some incredible teams in this league.”

 

Turkey centre-back Soyuncu, who joined from Freiburg in 2018, has been one of the shining stars for the Foxes this season and further endeared himself to their fans with a stooping header that broke the deadlock in the 57th minute.

 

Vardy, who scored a hat-trick in the 9-0 win at Southampton, then sealed the away win in the 88th minute with a first-time strike after a swift one-two with substitute Gray.

 

Full-back Ben Chilwell came close to adding a third in stoppage time but saw his angled strike come off the inside of the post.

 

Mid-table Palace, who came into the match with seven points from 12, failed to trouble Kasper Schmeichel aside from a Jeffrey Schlupp deflected strike that had to be tipped over the bar by the Dane.

 

The Eagles remain ninth with 15 points.

 

You cannot blame lifelong supporter Leigh Herbert for again backing Leicester to produce their second “miracle” in four years.

 

He believes they are a stronger unit than the one that stormed to the 2015-16 title and earned him £20,000 for his 5,000-1 bet.

 

The bookies agree with Leigh and gave him odds of 300-1 this time, although perhaps a better bet is to back them to finish in the top four.

 

This season those heavily used tactics that brought so much success five seasons ago are proving fruitful again.

 

In Maddison and Tielemans they have a duo in tune with Vardy’s intentions in the same way Danny Drinkwater and Riyad Mahrez were in the title-winning season.