Iheanacho misses penalty as Leicester City hold Crystal Palace

Kelechi Iheanacho missed a penalty in Leicester City’s 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace in a Premier League game on Monday.

The centre-forward was handed his second league start of the campaign against Roy Hodgson’s men, but missed an opportunity to give the Foxes the lead.

The King Power Stadium outfit were awarded a penalty in the 19th minute of the encounter after James Tomkins brought down Luke Thomas in the box.

Iheanacho was given the opportunity to take the penalty but the Nigeria international missed the glorious chance, failing to fire his effort past goalkeeper Vicente Guaita.

Leicester paid for the missed chance as Palace launched a powerful attack in the second half and broke the deadlock moments before the hour mark.

Ivory Coast international Wilfried Zaha scored the Eagles' opener in the encounter with a fine finish.

The forward volleyed the ball into the back of the net past hapless goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel after receiving a timely assist from Andros Townsend.

With seven minutes to the end of the game, however, Harvey Barnes levelled proceedings for Leicester after he was set up by Jonny Evans.

Iheanacho played for 72 minutes in his eighth Premier League appearance this season before he was replaced by Demarai Gray.

The Super Eagles attacker made 22 touches on the ball and had a 63 per cent successful pass rate in the encounter.

Iheanacho’s compatriot Wilfred Ndidi was not listed for the game while Ghana international Jeffrey Schlupp was on parade for 84 minutes before he was replaced by his compatriot Jordan Ayew.

Despite the draw, Leicester maintain the second spot on the Premier League table after gathering 29 points from 16 games.

Crystal Palace, meanwhile, moved to the 13th place on the league table with 19 points from the same numbers of matches.

Iheanacho has made 15 appearances across all competitions this season for the Foxes, scoring three goals and providing three assists.

The forward will hope to make amends for the missed penalty when Leicester City take on Newcastle United in the next Premier League game on January 3.