Joe Ledley's second-half goal gave Crystal Palace a slender 1-0 win over Leicester City at the King Power Stadium this afternoon.
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Jordan Mutch almost opened the scoring within 60 seconds of his first start for Palace, but the midfielder placed his volley wide from the edge of the box.
Leonardo Ulloa then saw a shot deflected over the bar and from the resulting corner Riyad Mahrez's flick dropped just over the bar
After a shaky start, Leicester seemed to grow in confidence and Wes Morgan sent a thumping header into the hands of Julian Speroni from another set piece.
Mahrez then forced Speroni into a good save before David Nugent rattled the crossbar with a header as Palace began to struggle with the attacking intensity of the hosts.
Speroni saved again from Jeff Schlupp in the 35th minute, but Leicester almost went into the break a goal down after Scott Dann's far-post header crashed into the side-netting.
Palace's lacklustre first-half display prompted Alan Pardew to replace Dann and Mutch with Brede Hangeland and Yaya Sanogo, but it almost backfired as Paul Konchesky's deflected cross almost looped in before Nugent skewed the rebound wide.
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However, a minute after Nugent's miss, Ledley put Palace in front with their first shot on target as he swept home Hangeland's header back across goal.
Leicester almost levelled immediately as Nugent rounded Speroni and squared to Esteban Cambiasso, but the veteran midfielder couldn't control the ball and the chance passed.
Jason Puncheon and Dwight Gayle both went close late on as Leicester left gaps at the back late in the game.
Their positivity almost reaped dividends as Jamie Vardy forced two late saves from Speroni before Matty James fired a volley wide, but Palace held on to secure all three points.
Kristian Johnson
