Riyad Mahrez scored his first Premier League goal of the season to rescue a hard-fought 1-1 draw for Leicester City against West Bromwich Albion at the King Power Stadium this evening.
Nacer Chadli's free kick had looked like being enough to hand the Baggies a first win since August, but Mahrez levelled things up 10 minutes from time to ensure that both Leicester and West Brom's wait for a victory extended to six league games.
The result means that the Foxes remain in the relegation zone, now two points from safety, whereas West Brom move above Southampton into the top half of the table.
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The visitors were forced to hand Boaz Myhill his first taste of Premier League action for 18 months due to an injury to Ben Foster, and the keeper had the only save to make of a first half lacking in clear chances for either side.
Danny Simpson's rasping drive from inside the area travelled through a crowd of bodies before being pushed away by Myhill's good reaction save, and Vicente Iborra then put the rebound over the crossbar on his first Premier League start for the club.
It took until the 35th minute for that chance to arise, with the best sight of goal before that coming when the fit-again Chadli sent a mis-hit volley bouncing wide of the target.
A scuffed volley at the other end almost led to the opening goal with three minutes of the half remaining when Iborra's effort bounced into the path of Jamie Vardy, but Ahmed Hegazi did just enough to prevent the England international from converting from close range.
While the first half never really caught fire, the second half quickly made up for lost time and there was a major talking point within 20 seconds of the restart when Vardy latched on to an underhit back-pass from Hegazi before being brought down by Myhill right on the edge of the area.
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Leicester wanted a penalty and a red card for the Baggies' stand-in goalkeeper, but they got neither as Mike Dean ruled that the foul took place just outside the box and was only worthy of a booking.
The resulting free kick was steered towards goal by Harry Maguire, but Leicester's best chance came shortly afterwards when Mahrez blazed over the crossbar from inside the box when he had the goal gaping following good work from Marc Albrighton.
It proved to be a costly miss for the returning Algerian when Chadli provided a moment of quality which had been sorely lacking in the game up to that point, firing a fine 30-year free kick past an unsighted Kasper Schmeichel, who was left rooted to the spot.
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Mahrez atoned for the miss by notching the equaliser 10 minutes from time, though, collecting Islam Slimani's knockdown on his chest before tucking his finish into the bottom corner with his weaker right foot.
Suddenly Leicester found themselves chasing the win having previously struggled to break the Baggies down, and Myhill was forced into another save moments after the equaliser to keep out Maguire's powerful strike from range.
West Brom were able to quell the Leicester momentum without any further scares, though, and the two sides settled for a point apiece which leaves both six games without a victory.
Barney Corkhill
