Crystal Palace vs Leicester City. Premier League.
Selhurst ParkAttendance24,311.
Premier League: Fraizer Campbell and Mile Jedinak help Crystal Palace to 2-0 win over Leicester
Sunday 28 September 2014 21:02, UK
Crystal Palace made it two wins in two Premier League games after their 2-0 victory over Leicester City at Selhurst Park.
Leicester’s Jamie Vardy had the best chance of a battling first half, with the former Fleetwood Town man seeing his shot from six yards well saved by a sprawling Julian Speroni.
Palace lacked a clinical edge in the opening 45 minutes, but could have taken the lead when Jason Puncheon’s rasping drive was well saved by keeper Kasper Schmeichel.
However, the game sparked into life just over five minutes into the second half, when Palace striker Fraizer Campbell opened the scoring after diverting a Mile Jedinak knockdown beyond Schmeichel.
Moments later, the Eagles doubled their lead when Jedinak headed past the Foxes goalkeeper to secure all three points for Neil Warnock’s side – a win that moves Palace into eighth and pushes Leicester down into ninth.
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The Eagles have now taken eight points from Warnock's four league games in charge as the 65-year-old recalled all 11 players who had started the 3-2 win at Everton.
Leicester, too, were unchanged from their shock 5-3 win over Manchester United last weekend but their feet were brought firmly back to the ground in south London as they failed to reach the heights of recent weeks.
Vardy, the catalyst for Leicester's heroic comeback, had the game's first chance but could not beat Speroni, who did well to keep out a driven effort.
Campbell also passed up a good opportunity to open the scoring but headed Puncheon's free-kick straight at Schmechel in the Foxes' goal.
Palace were becoming an ever-increasing attacking threat.
James McArthur forced a corner after collecting a Campbell knockdown and curling in an effort, with Joe Ledley's header from the resulting set-piece hacked off the line by Esteban Cambiasso.
Schmeichel was on hand to push away an arrowing strike from Puncheon moments later as Leicester were beginning to get pegged back.
Referee Keith Stroud was not endearing himself to the home fans after awarding a number of free-kicks to Leicester but he made the right decision to wave away claims for a Palace penalty as Yannick Bolasie went down under pressure from Ritchie de Laet.
That proved to be the last action of note in a 45 minutes that will not live long in the memory - especially as the game burst to life at the start of the second half.
David Nugent came agonisingly close to breaking the deadlock early after the restart but his shot came off the legs of Joel Ward and behind for a corner.
Leonardo Ulloa had been unusually quiet but he came close with a header from Cambiasso's near-post cross, with fellow Argentinian Speroni doing just enough to prevent him scoring a sixth of the campaign.
Palace also started the second half brighter and were ahead moments later as Puncheon's deep corner was headed towards goal by Scott Dann, with Campbell scrambling it past Schemiechel from close range.
The Foxes were left bewildered from the very next Puncheon set-piece as Palace skipper Jedinak this time powered home a free-kick from the left-hand side of the box to double the hosts' advantage.
Pearson's side prospered in catching United's defence short on the counter-attack but Vardy, the man of the match against the Red Devils, was guilty of losing possession when a ball to Nugent would have set the one-time England international through on goal.
Ulloa saw a late effort bravely blocked by Damien Delaney but overall the alterations did not bring about a change in fortunes for Leicester, who suffered just their second league defeat of the season and fall behind Palace in the table as a result.