Swansea Steals Point Against Wasteful Leicester City
A tale of two halves saw Leicester City held to a 1-1 draw by relegation battlers Swansea on Saturday afternoon.
The Foxes had exploded from the starting blocks and had their efforts duly rewarded when Jamie Vardy opened the scoring following sublime build-up play, despite their first half domination they were left to rue their missed chances.
Even though they looked second best for much of the first period Swansea emerged from the break with renewed intent, and they received their just deserts when Federico Fernández headed home an equaliser to secure a valuable point away from home.
Leicester headed into the clash with just one defeat in their last seven games but were under the cloud of Riyad Mahrez's transfer saga which dominated headlines in the days preceding the match.
Swansea, on the other hand, came to the King Power on the back of consecutive confidence boosting league victories against Liverpool and Arsenal as their battle for Premier League safety continued.
Leicester had immediately looked to bring Swansea back to earth with a handful of hard-hitting challenges in the opening exchanges, an aggression which went unmatched by their opponents.
The Swans laid-back approach was duly punished in the 17th minute after Harry Maguire's ball bypassed the visitors' midfield and allowed KelechiIheanacho to power to the edge of the penalty box, with a fortuitous touch pass finding an unmarked Vardy who calmly curled the ball into the back of the net.
After predominantly sitting back and attempting to absorb pressure, the goal appeared to have triggered Swansea into action, yet it was the home side who looked destined to land on the score-sheet next.
The game then descended into confusion on the half hour mark when the rebound from Fousseni Diabaté's powerful strike found Iheanacho who had time to take a number of touches on the six-yard line, only for the ball to miraculously be blocked by Alfie Mawson from close range.
In the same breath Wilfred Ndidi thought for all money that his strike had doubled the Foxes lead, only for referee Anthony Taylor to rule out the effort having failed to acknowledge his assistant's offside flag in the build-up to the goal.
Despite Leicester dominating the first half without giving the Swans a look-in at their goal, their slender lead ensured the visitors were given hope headed into the second period. A lifeline they did not take long to take advantage of.
A pinpoint corner delivery in the 53rd minute fell the way of Fernández who was allowed to freely head the ball down and beyond Kasper Schmeichel - converting the Swans' first shot on target to level the scores.
As a result of the goal, roles of both sides adopted in the first half were reversed as Swansea looked to up the tempo and go toe-to-toe with Leicester, who appeared momentarily stunned by their opponents revival.
Swansea showed a stronger desire for more time on the ball for a large part of the second 45, which opened up opportunities for the Foxes to catch them on the break. It made for a more free-flowing half, yet clear-cut chances proved hard to come by for either side.
The Foxes left it too late to ramp up the pressure on the Swans as the visitors held firm to see the spoils shared.
Leicester will be left to rue their missed chances and they will now face the challenge of heading to the Etihad Stadium next week to face league leaders Manchester City.
Meanwhile, Swansea now have an FA Cup replay against Notts County to contend with before returning their focus to their fight for Premier League safety when they host Burnley next weekend.
