Report: Late Mateta penalty secures point against Leicester
The Eagles’ squad was bolstered by three of their four deadline-day signings being available for the first time, with defender Max Lacroix and forward Eddie Nketiah both straight into the starting XI, and goalkeeper Matt Turner named on the bench.
Cheick Doucouré was also named in a Premier League starting XI for the first time in 10 months following his return from long-term injury, with Chris Richards, Will Hughes and Daichi Kamada moving onto the bench.
Manager Oliver Glasner had spoken in the build-up to kick-off about how, with plenty of new faces in South London, it might take time for things to click – and so proved the case as Leicester made the brighter start at Selhurst Park.
Indeed, it was a former Palace man, Jordan Ayew, who had two clear chances in the opening 10 minutes: the first was gilt-edged as Wilfred Ndidi won possession high and found him at the far post, but with time and space on his side, the striker bounced his effort into the ground, and over.
Moments later, Ayew was in on goal after an inventive Leicester set-piece routine, but Dean Henderson did well to force him wide, and he dribbled out of play.
Palace grew into the half, however, and saw a flurry of first-half opportunities in quick succession on the quarter-of-an-hour mark; Nketiah was first to go close, starting a move with a cross-field pass before racing onto Tyrick Mitchell’s hanging cross, but the No. 9 headed wide under heavy pressure.
Three minutes later, Palace created three presentable chances back-to-back; a lovely reverse pull-back from Ebere Eze found Daniel Muñoz steaming into the box, but his effort was blocked with a last-gasp challenge from Victor Kristiansen.
Palace recycled possession and worked it well for Mateta to strike inside the box; his shot, too, was blocked. Nketiah then cut inside and struck low towards goal on his left foot, forcing Mads Hermansen into a plunging stop.
Unfortunately, Palace were then hit for a sucker-punch; a simple enough Leicester goal, as Ndidi chipped over the top and Jamie Vardy, ever-lively, raced onto it, rounding Henderson and side-footing home.
Despite the setback, Palace continued to have their moments in the opening 45, and Nketiah’s clever flick made room for himself inside the box, only for Wout Faes to block.
The Eagles’ best chance of the half probably fell to Eze, whose beautiful first touch from Mitchell’s low ball in took him past his marker. From a tight angle, however, his bending effort whistled wide of the far post.
Leicester had a good chance to double their advantage on the stroke of half-time, Vardy again getting in behind and squaring for Mavididi. The Leicester forward, under pressure from Nathaniel Clyne, blazed high and wide of the near post.
Where the Leicester man had erred, however, he immediately corrected. Just 20 seconds into the second-half, a ball in from James Justin deflected off Clyne inside the area. Ndidi cushioned it back and Mavididi blasted home from close range.
Undeterred, Palace replied immediately. Eze played the ball out to Mitchell, whose low cross was flicked across goal and in at the far post by Mateta.
The Frenchman at first appeared offside and the goal was initially ruled out – but VAR found him to be behind the ball at the point the cross was played, and the deficit was immediately reduced.
That paved way for a more frustrating, scrappy spell of the game – Palace getting the ball into some decent positions, but coming up, time and again, against a wall of grey shirts.
The introduction of Kamada from the bench midway through the second-half did aid Palace’s creativitiy, as the Japan international won the ball and started a sharp passing move which culminated in Nketiah – running away from goal – producing a low snapshot which whistled agonisingly wide.
Nketiah turned provider for the next chance as he picked out Eze with room inside the box, but the Palace forward was once again shut down rapidly by the visiting defender.
With time running out, it didn’t look like it was to be Palace’s day, a first-time whipped cross from substitute Hughes being glanced over – under pressure – by Mateta.
But then, just as five additional minutes were signalled, a penetrating run from Nketiah saw the Palace man tackled by Conor Coady – but only as far as Sarr, who was duly crunched by the Leicester man.
Up stepped Mateta who, with the coolest of penalty kicks, secured an important Premier League point for Palace – their first of the season at Selhurst Park.
Palace: Henderson (GK), Clyne (Kamada, 64), Lacroix, Guéhi, Muñoz (Sarr, 82), Wharton, Doucouré (Hughes, HT), Mitchell (Schlupp, 89), Eze, Mateta, Nketiah.
Subs: Turner (GK), Ward, Richards, Lerma, Umeh.
Leicester: Hermansen (GK), Justin, Faes, Okoli, Kristiansen, Winks, Skipp, Ayew (Coady, 83), Ndidi (Choudhury, 76), Mavididi (Fatawu, 72), Vardy.
Subs: Ward (GK), Pereira, Soumaré, El Khannouss, Buonanotte, De Cordova-Reid.
As It Happened
