It’s perfect for Palace
VICENTE GUAITA won his personal fight with Jamie Vardy to see Crystal Palace win without Wilf Zaha.
The Spanish keeper, who secured this vital victory on his Premier League debut, also claimed the prize for the statement of the season so far. “I think Spain and south London are very different,” he said.
Luka Milivojevic lit up this dank day and dull match with a brilliant strike after 39 minutes. But Guaita, who suffered a shaky start when Vardy robbed him in possession, saved the points with a super low save from the former England striker after the break.
He touched the low shot onto the post and then saw the rebound bounce back into his arms. Vardy slapped the crossbar in frustration as Guaita touched the post in thanks.
“It was beautiful to play my first Premier League game,” said the summer signing from sunny Getafe.
“They told me that Vardy was a fast player, a good player who plays hard. In the first half, I went to kick the ball and he clearly fouled me. There is a difference in the amount of contact there is in England and Spain, but a foul is a foul whatever country you’re in.
Spasm
“For the save against the post, the most important thing was to get a hand on it, whether it goes wide or hits the post and comes back to me. “In the end we’ve got the three points for Palace, which is the most important thing.”
Guaita, who played after Wayne Hennessey pulled out with a back spasm, added: “Obviously I have been waiting for the right moment and I have been really helped by Julian Speroni. “Above everything it’s about a positive mentality. I think Spain and south London are very different.
“It’s true that we have a different climate and this match was a hard day in London, hard in terms of cold, rainy. But we carry on, with a positive mentality.” Failure to beat a lacklustre Leicester would have seen Palace have fewer points after 17 games than last season – when they lost the opening seven matches. Now the Eagles can think positively, having won two on the run at home and got a first victory since September 2016 without the suspended Zaha. CRYSTAL PALACE
(4-4-2): G
7; Wan-Bissaka 6, Kelly
Van Aanholt 7, Sakh
5; McArthur 5, MILIVOJ
7, Kouyate 7 (Schlupp
65, 5), Meyer 6 (Puncheon 90); Townsend (Sorloth 6, Ayew 4
78) Subs: Speroni, Wickham. Ward, Da
UP NEXT: Manchester League, City (a), Pre Saturday.
LEICESTER (4-2-3-1):
6; Schme Pereira 5, Morgan 6, Fuchs Maguire
6; Mendy 5, Ndidi 6; (Okazaki Albrighto
88), Maddison 4 (Ghezzal GRAY 7 (Iheanacho 4
73); Vardy 6. Subs: Ward, Simpson,
UP Evans, Iborra.
NEXT: Manchester
Cup, City (h), Car tomorrow.
Referee: Michael
Oliver 7.
YOUR TURN: How many goals did defender Jeffrey Schlupp appearances score in 1 for Leicester before joi Palace for £12m last year – 0, 15 or 2