LEICESTER CITY 3 Musa (42), Okazaki (63), Fuchs (80) CRYSTAL PALACE 1 Cabaye (85)
CHAMPIONS Leicester returned to form in the League after Christian Fuchs’ wonder strike capped a win over Palace.
The defender scored his first goal for the Foxes when he fired in a half- volley from 25 yards as Leicester bagged their first league win for over a month.
Shinji Okazaki should have opened the scoring inside 90 seconds when presented with a gift by Steve Mandanda.
The Palace goalkeeper swapped passes with Damien Delaney, but then miscued his clearance straight to Okazaki. With Mandanda out of goal, the Japan international could only chip wide from 25 yards.
Islam Slima ni and Okazaki both failed to make an impact, and it was up to Ahmed Musa to open the scoring three minutes before the break.
The Foxes’ pressure had been growing, although Nigeria international Musa had been virtually anonymous before getting his first goal for the club.
Ineffective on the right, he moved inside to link up with Slimani and, with Mandanda unsighted by his backpedalling defence, cracked a low drive in from 18 yards.
The Foxes had dragged themselves ahead and Slimani almost doubled their lead two minutes after half- time when his header rippled the side netting.
Palace’s response was muted, with Christian Benteke increasingly starved of service, and Yohan Cabaye fired well over – but Leicester had the measure of the visitors and they doubled their lead after 63 minutes.
Okazaki had not scored in the Premier League since March, but justified his selection when he rifled in from 12 yards after Delaney cut out Danny Drinkwater’ s cross. Kasper Schmeichel
then saved Zaha’s drive, but Palace had lost their poise from their opening spell as Leicester threatened to swarm all over them.
Yet the Foxes lived dangerously as Palace almost pulled a goal back after 73 minutes when Schmeichel saved Cabaye’s close- range effort and then, from the resulting corner, Danny Simpson cleared Benteke’s header off the line.
But Leicester made the game safe with 10 minutes left, when Fuchs scored a brilliant first goal for the club.
There seemed little danger when Benteke cleared a corner to the Austrian, but he rifled an angled half- volley into the corner from 25 yards.
Cabaye made it 3- 1 with five minutes left when he steered in Zaha’s cross.