Leicester drop points as Chelsea, Everton secure away wins

Leicester City played some brilliant attacking football and had 22 attempts on goal but dropped two vital points in their pursuit of a first English Premier League title when they were held to a 2-2 draw at home by West Bromwich Albion Tuesday night.

The leaders were denied victory by a stunning free kick from Craig Gardner and while they moved three points clear of Tottenham Hotspur, Spurs will replace them in top spot if they win at West Ham on Thursday thanks to a better goal difference.

While Leicester and Spurs are locked in hot pursuit of the title, reigning champions Chelsea continued their revival under interim coach Guus Hiddink with a third successive league win – 2-1 over relegation-threatened Norwich City.

Sunderland grabbed a point with a last-minute goal to draw 2-2 with Crystal Palace while Everton pushed Aston Villa closer to relegation with a 3-1 win at Villa Park, where thousands of fans walked out in protest at the way the club is being run.

At the top, Leicester, on 57 points with 10 matches to play, would have opened up a five-point gap with a win but manager Claudio Ranieri was far from despondent despite the two dropped points.

“I am very pleased with our performance,” he told the BBC.

Read also: Man United’s Rashford dents Arsenal’s title hopes

“They played so well, there was no panic after the first goal. We played much better than against Norwich (on Sunday).

“I want to create a lot of chances and sooner or later we score. Tonight wasn’t the right moment but we are alive and we fight to the end. Everybody is ready to fight, to play well, to create chances. Only the victory was missing.”

Meanwhile, Chelsea stretched their unbeaten league run to 12 matches since former manager Jose Mourinho left in December after a 2-1 win at Norwich, where Kenedy scored the fastest goal in the league this season, after 39 seconds, to put the visitors ahead.

The victory was secured by a second goal from Diego Costa, which looked offside, and lifted Chelsea to eighth.

Interim coach Hiddink told Sky: “We didn’t want to go into the battle but they forced us. We were sloppy in the first half, starting well with a beautiful goal and I think we could have finished it in the first half.

“We were complacent with the last pass. They made our life difficult.”

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