Crystal Palace 2-2 Leicester City: Ndidi’s masterclass

arnav
By Arnav
3 Min Read

Leicester City will be gutted not to leave London with three points after throwing away a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 with Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.

The Foxes played well and were up 2-0 early in the second half. Jamie Vardy scored the first with a good finish after being sent in through on goal with an excellent Wilfred Ndidi through ball. The Nigerian was also at the heart of the second goal, showing brilliant awareness to find Stephy Mavididi.

Leicester’s two-goal advantage didn’t last long. Within a minute of Mavididi’s goal, Jean-Phillipe Mateta had the ball in Leicester’s net. It was initially ruled out as offside, but VAR overturned it, although the supporting image they showed was unconvincing. With the Eagles pressing hard, Steve Cooper made some defensive substitutions, which eventually backfired. Mateta got his second goal of the game with a stoppage-time penalty to earn his side a point.

Wilfred Ndidi is Zinedine Zidane in disguise

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Many Foxes fans (including myself) called for Ndidi to be on the bench after his disappointing performance against Aston Villa. As a result, his inclusion in the starting line-up wasn’t well received. The fans felt Facundo Buonanotte or Bilal El Khannouss were more deserving of a chance.

In the opening 10 minutes, Ndidi won the ball back and set up a brilliant chance for Jordan Ayew, who couldn’t convert against his former club. Shortly afterward, Ndidi won the ball back again in an advanced position and set Jamie Vardy through with an inch-perfect through ball. He wasn’t done yet, though.

Early in the second half, the ball fell kindly to him in front of the goal. Instead of blasting it in, the Nigeria international had the awareness to square it to Stephy Mavididi, who slammed the ball into the empty net. While he didn’t have the ball much in the second half, he still entertained us with some nice stepovers.

It was an overall outstanding performance by Wilfred Ndidi, who proved his doubters wrong.

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