Crystal Palace 2-2 Leicester: Jean-Philippe Mateta’s late penalty rescues a point for Eagles after goals by Jamie Vardy and Stephy Mavididi

It has been a fortnight of points salvaged and points spurned for Leicester City.

An unlikely win in the courtroom was minutes away from being followed up by an unexpected win on the pitch. 

But while the Foxes’ lawyers showed no lack of cunning in avoiding a points deduction for financial irregularities by squeezing through a Premier League loophole, their players couldn’t quite muster the same level of savviness at Selhurst Park.

They had put in the hard yards, too. Leicester were the better side in the first half. Wilfred Ndidi was the best player on the pitch by a distance. Jamie Vardy rolled back the years. They went 2-0 up, through Vardy and Stephy Mavididi, and it wasn’t undeserved.

But Crystal Palace and Jean-Philippe Mateta hit back just 86 seconds after Leicester’s second and suddenly the heat was on. Could Leicester withstand it?

It has been a fortnight of points salvaged and points spurned for newly-promoted Leicester 

Jean-Philippe Mateta’s injury-time penalty denied the Foxes of a first win of the season

Vardy made no mistake on 21 minutes as he put Leicester ahead following a long ball  

The answer, eventually, was no. In stoppage time, substitute Conor Coady conceded a penalty and Leicester conceded an equaliser, Mateta stepping up from the spot. The verdict was in — Leicester were guilty of throwing two points away.

In isolation, one was not to be sniffed at — it was Leicester’s first on the road this season. But to have led for over 70 minutes and leave without all three will have been galling.

A victory here would have been so significant, too. It would have put daylight between Leicester and the relegation zone at this early stage of the season. It would have maintained the feelgood factor among the travelling fans who taunted ‘We’re Leicester City, we’ll spend what we want’ when they were ahead. 

And it would have silenced any murmurs of discontent behind the scenes at this formative point of Cooper’s tenure. Instead those supporters will be licking their wounds all the way back to the midlands and Cooper and Leicester still comes across like a marriage not of love, but convenience.

‘It feels like a defeat, no doubt about that,’ admitted Cooper. ‘Palace chucked everything at us but I didn’t feel like a goal was coming. It’s a disappointed dressing room.’

Vardy opened the scoring on 21 minutes after being played in by Ndidi, dancing around Henderson and side-footing into an empty net. Vardy restrained himself from mimicking an eagle, his celebration at Selhurst Park in years gone by, but the 37-year-old’s predatory instincts remain undimmed. It was a lead Leicester deserved.

Home fans expecting better after half-time were swiftly disappointed. Just 19 seconds into the second half, Leicester were two up after a botched clearance by Nathaniel Clyne, another intervention by Ndidi and a powerful strike from Mavididi.

That seemed to spark Palace into life, however, and they halved the deficit moments later, Mateta tapping home Tyrick Mitchell’s cross. The linesman’s flag went straight up for offside but a lengthy VAR delay eventually went the way of Palace. 

Just 19 seconds into the second half, Leicester were two up thanks to Stephy Mavididi 

Mateta halved the deficit under two minutes later with a close-range finish 

‘I really want to see that he was absolutely onside,’ fumed Cooper later, somewhat bizarrely. ‘We can’t be making decisions on suggestions, the semi-automated offsides are coming in for a reason. We’re waiting for absolute clarity.’

Glasner threw on forwards Daichi Kamada and Ismaila Sarr for defenders Clyne and Daniel Munoz and the pressure on Leicester grew. It finally told in stoppage time, Coady scything down Sarr in the box. Mateta sent Mads Hermansen the wrong way — and it was an opportunity missed for Leicester, too.

‘Compliments to the team for the comeback,’ said Glasner. ‘It was a very good reaction.’