Crystal Palace 2 Leicester City 2
Crystal Palace: Cabaye (54'), C Benteke (70')
Leicester: Huth (6'), Vardy (52')
Man of the match: Andros Townsend (Crystal Palace)
LONDON // It has been an eventful few months for Sam Allardyce and Craig Shakespeare.
Back in August, when Crystal Palace were managed by Alan Pardew and Leicester City by Claudio Ranieri, Shakespeare took up a part-time position on Allardyce’s coaching staff with the England national team.
Eight months later the pair met on the touchline at Selhurst Park, as their Palace and Leicester sides played out a 2-2 draw which edges both clubs closer to Premier League survival.
It was in this fixture last season that Leicester convinced many of their doubters that they really could hold off the challenge of Tottenham Hotspur and claim their first top-flight title.
“We’re going to win the league,” the travelling support sang for 15 minutes after the final whistle last March, when Riyad Mahrez’s first-half strike settled a scrappy encounter in their favour and saw Ranieri’s men move eight points clear at the summit of the standings.
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Their ambitions are rather more modest 13 months on — domestically at least — but this draw against in-form opponents means they have virtually secured their place in the Premier League for the 2017/18 campaign. Shakespeare, appointed manager when Ranieri was controversially dismissed two months ago, has now lost only one of his seven league games in charge.
Relegation would not have tarnished last season’s surprise success. It could even be argued that dropping down to the Championship would have accentuated it, underlining just how remarkable their title triumph was in the first place.
For the club, though, it would have represented a substantial setback. While Leicester have spent a large chunk of their history in the second tier, the riches on offer in the Premier League today are greater than they have ever been.
The risk of missing out on that windfall by retaining Ranieri was one which owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha felt unable to take.
Palace chairman Steve Parish was presumably motivated by similar concerns when he dismissed Pardew and installed Allardyce in December.
It took a while for the former Bolton Wanderers, Blackburn Rovers and Sunderland manager to find his feet, but a recent run of five wins in six matches — including victories over Chelsea and Arsenal — meant Palace headed into the encounter full of confidence.
That collective self-belief probably took a hit when the visitors opened the scoring through Robert Huth early on, and must have been further damaged when Jamie Vardy doubled Leicester’s lead after the interval.
There is much more resilience to this Palace side under Allardyce, though, and the hosts duly fought back to make it four consecutive games unbeaten at home.
Yohan Cabaye halved the deficit just 115 seconds after Vardy’s strike, before Christian Benteke climbed highest to nod home an equaliser from Andros Townsend’s cross in the 70th minute.
Palace looked the more likely to push on and grab a winner at that point, but both bosses were ultimately content with a draw.
The margin separating Leicester from the bottom three now stands at nine points, while Palace are seven above the bottom three after Swansea City’s 1-0 defeat by Watford.
It is still a little too early for Shakespeare and Allardyce to start celebrating survival, but the former colleagues have overseen a major improvement at their respective clubs and are now on the verge of completing their respective missions by ensuring their clubs will be back playing Premier League football in August.
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