Neither Tim Howard or Mark Schwarzer had a serious save to make as Everton and Leicester City struggled to break each other down in the first half of this afternoon's Premier League match at Goodison Park.

Bottom-of-the-table Leicester made a positive start to the match, with Jeffrey Schlupp working Howard inside five minutes with a low near-post drive.

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Muhamed Besic warmed the palms of Schwarzer with a similar effort at the other end, but they would be the only shots on target of the first 45 minutes.

In the 26th minute Romelu Lukaku, who scored a European hat-trick on Thursday against Young Boys, could have put Everton in front, but skied his shot from Seamus Coleman's cutback.

Leicester then went even closer when Andrej Kramaric worked a yard of space on the edge of the box and curled an effort just over the crossbar.

Soon after, Ross Barkley and Schlupp also missed the target with good chances as both sides continued to struggle when presented with opportunities.

The Foxes were close to going in front with the last kick of the half, but Schlupp's fierce volley was well blocked by the sprawling John Stones.

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