The Foxes move eight points clear with win at Palace

A Riyad Mahrez goal was all Leicester needed to secure victory at Selhurst Park and extend their lead at the top of the Premier League to eight points.

Another resilient defensive performance and counter-attacking game earned Leicester their fourth 1-0 win in the last five games but Crystal Palace proved a difficult opponent.

As they have done in the majority of their games this season Leicester began to assert their dominance early in the first half. Palace were a little weary of the Foxes’ threat on the break and Claudio Ranieri’s side eventually made the breakthrough.

In the build-up of an extremely well-worked move, Danny Drinkwater picked out Jamie Vardy on the left-hand side of the box with a first-time ball. The England striker then drove a low ball across the area to leave Mahrez with a comfortable finish at the back post.

Leicester always threatened on the attack but they had to defend solidly for large parts of the second half.

Yannick Bolasie and Wilfried Zaha posed danger throughout the game and the Foxes then had to deal with Dwight Gayle and Bakary Sako as Alan Pardew threw all of his attackers on the pitch in the hope of an equaliser.

A hugely controversial moment came about when Leicester had a big penalty shout; Scott Dann pulled Robert Huth’s off his back while trying to defend a corner.

There was last-gasp moment in the Leicester box in stoppage time when Damien Delaney struck the crossbar for the Eagles but the Foxes were able to see out the game.

The focus is now on Tottenham as they face Bournemouth on Sunday in an attempt to cut Leicester’s lead.

Jamie Vardy and Danny Drinkwater were able to celebrate their England call-ups in style, especially the latter who ran the game from the midfield.

Another loss for Palace leaves them struggling near the foot of the table as they are only eight points from the bottom three, with Sunderland and Newcastle having a game in hand.

The magnitude of Leicester’s win was reflected in the delight of the Leicester fans after the final whistle as the supporters stayed in their thousands for a large amount of time.

While the Foxes’ faithful can start to dream, there are still seven games between Ranieri’s men and a place in the history books.