Leicester Eye January Swoop for Andros Townsend as Palace Striker Crisis Deepens

Leicester City could look to take advantage of Crystal Palace's striker dilemma by reigniting their interest in Andros Townsend in January.

The Daily Mirror has reported that the Foxes will return to the Londoners with an improved offer for the winger after seeing a bid knocked back for Townsend late in the summer transfer window.

Palace had issued a 'hands off' warning to the 2016 Premier League champions for the England international, but may now reluctantly cash in on Townsend as gaffer Roy Hodgson seeks to free up funds to end his side's goalscoring crisis.

Mike Hewitt/GettyImages

Leicester boss Craig Shakespeare had made Townsend a late summer priority as he looked to bolster his attacking options at the King Power stadium, but the Eagles rejected his club's bid for the wideman.

That came off the back of an impressive run of form for Townsend as he helped Palace - the managed by Sam Allardyce - stave off relegation from the top flight, but he has struggled to make a similar impact this term.

Palace are currently rooted to the bottom of the Premier League having suffered seven successive league defeats and, thanks to their inability to net against Manchester United at the beginning of the month, now hold a new top division record.

Hodgson's men became the first team in EPL history to not find the back of the net in their opening seven clashes in a season, and the veteran manager could use Townsend's sale to fund the recruitment of a new striker in the winter window.

That desire has only been further outlined with the news that star man Christian Benteke is out for a month with a knee injury - a factor which means Palace's striker headache continues as they are without a recognised marksman for this weekend's home encounter with Chelsea.

Townsend has registered just one assist in nine appearances so far this season, and has only notched three goals and eight assists in 49 games for the club as a whole.