Leicester climb out of bottom three after draw with Everton

Leicester City climbed out of the relegation zone after they shared an enthralling 2-2 draw with Everton at King Power Stadium.

Everton made a bright start and their early pressure was rewarded when Dominic Calvert-Lewin was fouled by Timothy Castagne for a penalty, the Toffees forward converted on 15 minutes for his first league goal since October.

Leicester equalised against the run of play seven minutes later through Caglar Soyuncu’s low strike, his first of the campaign.

Growing in confidence, Leicester then went in front just after the half-hour, James Maddison playing in Jamie Vardy, who rounded goalkeeper Jordan Pickford before slotting in.

Shortly after Everton captain Seamus Coleman was carried off with a leg injury, Leicester were awarded a penalty in first-half stoppage time for a handball by Michael Keane.

But Pickford saved from Maddison, who has now missed two of his three Premier League spot-kicks.

The Everton goalkeeper had done his research of Maddison’s penalties, which was caught by cameras on his water bottle, and guessed correctly that his England team-mate would go down the middle to make the stop.

That save proved crucial as Everton levelled nine minutes into the second half from Alex Iwobi’s low finish at the far post.

Everton, who had 23 shots in total, their most in a top-flight match since November 2019, pushed for a late winner, but Daniel Iversen made several excellent saves, including a stunning stop from Abdoulaye Doucoure’s low drive.

Incredibly, the match produced the highest combined Expected Goals (xG) for a Premier League contest this season (6.8), Leicester edging it with a score of 3.5.

Leicester move up to 16th on 30 points, out of the relegation zone on goal difference, while Everton are three places and a point below.