Palace inflict sixth straight league defeat on Leicester

Jean-Philippe Mateta has now scored in back-to-back Premier League games for the first time this season

A clinical display from Crystal Palace inflicted a sixth straight Premier League defeat on Leicester City and increased pressure on manager Ruud van Nistelrooy.

In a game short of quality, Jean-Philippe Mateta's opener - seven minutes into the second half - was Palace's first effort on target.

He latched on to a through ball after a driving run from Ismaila Sarr and took a touch round the advancing goalkeeper, before tapping into the empty net for his sixth Premier League goal of the season.

England centre-back March Guehi then sealed the win for Palace as he superbly volleyed home a free-kick after drifting in from the left channel.

Leicester were the better team in the first period but aside from Jamie Vardy missing a one-on-one, they struggled to create any clear-cut chances.

They were slow to respond to going behind, but picked up with Vardy and Patson Daka seeing efforts go wide before Boubakary Soumare scooped a cut-back against the crossbar.

"It's hard. We kept spirits up after five losses and we will also do it after today's loss," said Van Nistelrooy.

"There's hope there, there's spirit there in the team. But today is a big blow. I think it's the lowest we've felt so far in my spell.

"It's a worry when you concede the amount of goals we do at the moment, it's hard to win games. It's something we addressed. I addressed it from the first day I came in but we haven't got that right."

Leicester remain 19th, two points from safety, having taken just four points from 24 since Van Nistelrooy took over.

Palace climb to 14th, above Manchester United, and eight points clear of the relegation zone.

Consistent problems for Leicester

Four of Leicester's defeats during their recent run have come against sides currently in the Premier League top seven, but it is the recurring themes in those losses that are troubling for them.

They have conceded at least two goals in all six games and have failed to score in four of them.

Their six-game losing streak equals a run in September 2022. They last endured a longer top-flight losing streak in March and April 2001 when they lost eight successive matches.

Van Nistelrooy's side created some decent chances but lacked that clinical edge and questions remain about who will score if Vardy, who will rue his first-half miss, fails to.

Their first shot on target in the second half was in stoppage time and that tells its own story.

They signed French full-back Woyo Coulibaly from Parma earlier on Wednesday but more additions are needed if they are to avoid dropping straight back to the Championship.

The atmosphere is starting to turn sour too. The King Power was flat throughout the evening, while a fan got on to the pitch during the second half and there were chants against their director of football Jon Rudkin of of "we want Rudkin out".

Professional Palace get job done

There was nothing spectacular or special about Palace's showing - it was just an efficient away performance.

They failed to have a shot on target in the first half, with their only chance coming when Mateta cleared the bar after a blocked clearance.

Oliver Glasner's side were much improved in the second half and could have scored more than two goals.

Sarr's run for the opener was superb, matched by the calmness of Mateta, and then Guehi's finish was fabulous, considering he would have only seen the ball late as Eberechi Eze's dropped over the Leicester defence.

They have lost just one of their past 10 Premier League games (four wins, five draws) and their current six-match unbeaten run away from home (three wins and three draws) is the club's longest in the top-flight since February 1992.

While their safety in the top flight is far from confirmed, their focus for the second half of the season will surely centre of pushing as far up the league as they can.