Benteke, Zaha Give Crystal Palace First Away Win of the Season
Crystal Palace secured their first away win of the Premier League season after dispatching 10-man Leicester 0-3 at the King Power Stadium on Saturday.
The Eagles came out of the blocks intent on taking it to the Foxes and their attacking intent paid dividends in the first half as Christian Benteke's header secured Crystal Palace's first away goal of the season before Wilfried Zaha added the second after scintillating team play.
Leicester proved a more difficult prospect in the second half, but Wilfred Ndidi's red card enabled the Eagles to hold firm as Bakary Sako added the finishing touches in extra-time to secure all three points.
A tame opening to the proceedings saw both sides feeling each other out with little incident; the game settled into an early rhythm as Crystal Palace were eager to attack whilst Leicester were content in their patient approach.
Keen to take the game to the home side, the Eagles were allowed to drive through the heart of the Foxes defence with relative ease and Jeffrey Schlupp was the first to take advantage. The former Leicester man stormed his way into the penalty box, with his ball across the face of goal misjudged by Benteke who failed to get the decisive touch.
The Foxes failed to heed the early warning as Zaha and Ruben Loftus-Cheek combined in the middle to weave their way through the defence, but the latter had his shot through the oppositions legs comfortably parried away by Kasper Schmeichel.
Crystal Palace's next attack, however, proved costly for the home side as a pin-point cross from Andros Townsend found the head of Benteke who had cleverly slipped between Wes Morgan and Danny Simpson.
The Belgium striker powerfully directed the ball into the back of the net in the 19th minute to score the Eagles' first away goal of the season, and his first league goal in 14 games.
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A shift in momentum swung in favour of Leicester following the goal as Crystal Palace sat back and invited Leicester to attack as the impetus fell squarely on the home side to level the scores - although the Eagles remained dangerous on the counter attack.
Chances came the way of Harry Maguire and Vicente Iborra for the home side, but that's all they were as Leicester struggled to slip past a well-drilled Crystal Palace defence.
Whilst Claude Puel's side struggled to create any meaningful attempts on goal, the opposition proved decisive and lethal on the counter as a ball nicked ball off Riyad Mahrez sent the Eagles on the way to scoring their second goal of the afternoon.
Benteke powered through the attacking half and set up Zaha on the edge of the box, who skillfully manoeuvred around Ben Chilwell to send the ball back across Schmeichel in the 40th minute - securing his fourth goal of the campaign.
The half-time break offered Leicester an opportunity to re-group and enter the second period with renewed vigour, but it was Crystal Palace who initially looked the more likely to score.
With the game starting to open up, Crystal Palace stopper Julián Speroni - who had hardly been tested for over half of the game - was called into action after Mahrez was allowed to find the outside of Schlupp to fire a shot away, but Speroni's strong hand proved decisive.
The 59th minute had Leicester briefly celebrating their opening goal of the game following Iborra's powerful header into the bottom corner, but referee Martin Atkinson ruled it out after the midfielder had pushed James Tomkins out of the way.
And it got worse for Puel's side only moments later as Ndidi was sent off after receiving his second yellow card following his dramatic dive in the penalty box.
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Although Leicester continued to pepper the visitors' goal in the final moments, the Eagles continued to look deadly on the counter for the remainder of the match, with both Benteke and Townsend scuppering clear opportunities to make it three for the afternoon.
But that honour fell the way of Sako in the 94th minute as another break away for the Eagles set-up the midfielder to dispatch an unstoppable strike into the top left corner
Crystal Palace are now seven league games unbeaten, with a trip to Swansea next on the agenda before hosting Arsenal, whilst Leicester are set for a Manchester double in their next two games, hosting both City and United respectively.
