It looked for all the world as though Leicester City were going to claim their first Premier League win of the season against Crystal Palace on Saturday.
Steve Cooper saw his Leicester City side go two goals up against Crystal Palace courtesy of Jamie Vardy and a strike by Stephy Mavididi on his first league start of the season.
However, Jean-Philippe Mateta halved the deficit just a minute after Mavididi‘s 46th-minute strike in controversial fashion, with the goal originally ruled offside before being overturned by VAR.
It was late heartbreak for Leicester as Conor Coady brought down Ismaila Sarr in the box to allow Mateta to level the scores from the penalty spot in the 92nd-minute.
Stephy Mavididi of Leicester City applauds the travelling Leicester City fans after the Premier League match between Crystal Palace and Leicester C…
Stephy Mavididi speaks about first Leicester City goal in Premier League
Perhaps before kick-off most people affiliated with Leicester would have taken a draw away at Palace despite the Eagles’ similarly poor start to the season.
When you consider the two-goal cushion Mavididi’s strike just after half-time gave them, though, a draw is a difficult result to take.
That goal was Mavididi’s first in the Premier League and he is hoping that he has done enough to earn a place in the starting XI against Everton this weekend.
Mavididi reflected on his goal and performance to Leicester’s official club website, saying: “It was a good pass, a bit of a ricochet and then Wilf [Ndidi] managed to fake-shot pass it to me, and I found the back of the net, so I’m really pleased with that.
“For me it was a nice feeling, that moment, something I’ve been working towards for a long time and he [Cooper] blessed me with my first start and hopefully I put out a good performance, so we’ll see for the coming games.”
Mavididi keen to take positives from Crystal Palace draw
Jamie Vardy of Leicester City celebrates with Stephy Mavididi of Leicester City after scoring to make it 0-1 during the Premier League match betwee…
Mavididi’s absence from the side has been surprising up to this point given how key he was to helping get the Foxes promoted last season.
However, the winger boosted his chances of continuing in the starting XI with his display against Palace and the 26-year-old feels there were positives to take despite throwing away a healthy lead.
Mavididi explained: “It’s the best league in the world and it’s bittersweet from going 2-0 up to back to 2-2.
“Obviously, we’re disappointed but I think everyone’s got their head around it and we’ve just got to accept it.
“We can only look back and take the positives. We played some good stuff and there are a lot of positives we can take, as a collective and on a personal note. I feel like we put in a good performance.”
Looking ahead, Mavididi added: “We’ve just got to regroup now, get back to work, keep building and then go again this week.
“We’ve been putting in the work every day, the training at the training ground, and on days like today it might not come off for you.”
With bottom of the table Everton at home next, Leicester really do need their hard work to pay off or they could find themselves in an uncomfortable position come Saturday evening.
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