Unrecognisable Eagles lose dead rubber fixture 2-1 at Leicester with both sides prioritising cups

Following their marvellous 3-0 rout of Arsenal on Monday, Crystal Palace crashed back down to earth after stumbling to a 2-1 defeat against Leicester City at King Power Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

In a dead rubber fixture, rendered even more trivial due to each side’s main focus lying elsewhere, such as the FA Cup semi-final for the Eagles or the Conference League quarter-final return leg at PSV Eindhoven for the Foxes, it was Brendan Rodgers’ side that came out on top thanks to a one-man show by Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall in the first-half.

The youngster, who terrorised Crystal Palace’s defence throughout with his unpredictability and ability to create havoc in tight spaces, set up Ademola Lookman for a first-half opener before netting with a spectacular arrowed finish.

Wilfried Zaha reduced the arrears after heading home the follow-up from his own missed penalty in the 65th minute.

The South Londoners were the dominant side in the opening stages, peppering Leicester City’s goal with numerous attempts but Patrick Vieira was let down by the poor quality of his players’ finishing.

And they failed to contain Dewsbury-Hall, shipping twice in the space of six first-half minutes with the youngster stealing the spotlight in devastating fashion as Leicester leapfrog today’s opponents into ninth place in their quest for a top-half finish.

Dewsbury-Hall first played a defence-splitting pass in behind Nathaniel Clyne for ex-Fulham star Lookman to put the Foxes 1-0 up with a smart finish after cutting inside.

The 23-year-old then stepped up the starring role himself with a world-class finish into the top-corner after leaving Cheikhou Kouyate in no man’s land with a swivel and change of pace just inside the box.

Despite some poor defending, the Eagles could have scored three times prior to Leicester’s own two goals.

The game was only a couple of minutes old when Luke Thomas released Lookman into space but he horribly stabbed his effort wide.

At the other end, Zaha then latched onto a beautifully well-weighted ball into space from Jeffrey Schlupp but rolled his effort wide of the far post from a tight angle.

Jean-Philippe Mateta didn’t do much better 10 minutes later, but at least forced Kasper Schmeichel into a save.

It was then Danish international Joachim Andersen's turn to rise highest from a corner only to nod into the turf and waste another good chance to take the lead.

A marked defensive improvement was to follow after half-time for Vieira's lazy Eagles, with Wilfried Zaha heading home the follow-up after Schmeichel had brilliantly repelled his penalty. The 2016 Premier League winner already kept out his first spot-kick before the referee ordered a retake for encroachment.

Zaha, who had had a bad day at the office up until point, tried to make things happen with the ‘help’ of the home crowd who were suddenly on his back and booing him.

And as we all know, the Ivorian superstar thrives on opposition criticism.

But despite trying to stretch the game, the 29-year-old couldn’t add to his tally as Leicester deservedly come out on top in this cosmetic fixture which neither side really prioritised given the bigger prizes at stake elsewhere.