Leicester 2 Everton 2: Hero Pickford saves Maddison penalty as Toffees claim crucial point in thrilling relegation clash
THIS relegation fight is going down to the final game.
You can be absolutely sure of that.
And that is bad news for the supporters of Leicester, Everton, Leeds and Nottingham Forest who may suffer with nerves.
Which at the moment, must be pretty much all of them.
A manic, dramatic game between two of these clubs in a real mess ended up in a draw which was better for Everton than it was for Leicester.
And with barely anything between the four clubs, who are all scrapping like mad to avoid doomed Southampton, this battle is going to get even more fascinating for the neutrals.
James Maddison delivered a terrible penalty, his first in five years, although some of that was down to Jordan Pickford’s water bottle.
Goalkeeper Pickford has helped England overcome their dreadful record in penalty kicks with this trusted water bottle playing a small part.
And the message said there was a 60 per cent chance that Maddison would send his penalty down the centre, which he did.
Had he scored in the ninth minute of penalty time, Leicester would have been 3-1 up.
Everton, would have been a step nearer relegation.
Yet Pickford stood firm and in the second half, Alex Iwobi grabbed a leveller.
This was all after Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s penalty had seen Leicester recover with goals from Caglar Soyuncu and Jamie Vardy.
Yet this entertaining match was marred by that awful first half injury to Everton’s Seamus Coleman after a 50-50 challenge with Boubakary Soumare.
But for both managers, new Leicester boss Dean Smith and Sean Dyce of Everton, this was neither a terrific result or a disaster.
Both teams’ issues, of poor defending and wasteful finishing, were summed up in an extraordinary first half.
Leicester started off badly, panicked every time Everton got forward and this was summed up perfectly when Timothy Castagne shoved Calvert-Lewin in the back just as he was about to control Coleman’s pass with his chest.
Ref Michael Oliver had an easy decision to make and Everton’s No9 smashed the penalty into the roof of the net for his first goal since October.
Yet there was never any danger of this Everton team making life easy for themselves by defending properly as they are simply such a poor side.
They failed to clear Maddison’s free-kick from the right, failed to clear Vardy’s cross from the left.
Finally, Soyuncu got between Keane and Coleman to scramble a shot past Jordan Pickford.
Yet in terms of shooting yourself in the foot, this was nothing compared to the second goal.
Alex Iwobi’s abysmal pass was cut out by Youri Tielemans, Maddison sent Vardy sprinting clear and although we have not seen as many of these moment recently, you knew the ball would end up in the net, particularly as he was being chased by the beleaguered Keane.
Vardy rounded Pickford to bag Premier League goal number 136.
It is incredible when you consider it is seven years ago since Vardy staged the mother of house parties.
The entire Leicester team went round his house to watch Spurs draw at Chelsea which meant Leicester had won the League against all the odds.
Now, they are just trying to stay in the division and if they do, they can thank keeper Daniel Iversen who delivered a big performance last night.
Iversen, who had earlier made a brilliant save to deny Iwobi, delivered another key stop by sticking out a left hand to keep out an effort from Dwight McNeil.
And incredibly, Iversen - who also produced a big injury-time stop at Leeds to give his team a point - then made a third stop to deny Calvert-Lewin but considering he was just three yards out, the England forward simply had to score.
For Everton, the evening got worse when Coleman was carried off on a stretcher after coming off badly following a heavy challenge with Soumare, who picked up a yellow card.
It was a fair enough challenge but the Leicester midfielder’s momentum took him into Coleman who left the stadium in a people carrier to hospital.
Yet remarkably, Leicester should have been 3-1 up at half-time - at the very least.
Because not only did Vardy send a shot against the bar but Maddison fired that penalty straight at Pickford after Keane handled Harvey Barnes’ cross.
Iversen produced his fourth save of the night to prevent Calvert-Lewin from squeezing a shot inside the near post.
Yet Iwobi then made amends for that first half mistake by bringing his team level by lashing a first-time shot past Iversen.
Vardy had a header cleared off the line by James Tarkowski but equally, Iversen came to the rescue to deny Doucoure from grabbing a winner.
Ultimately, you still get the feeling Leicester will stay up but at least Everton, too, have some hope.
Here's how the action unfolded...