Leicester City 1-1 Ipswich Town: Sarmiento rescues late point for Tractor Boys

The top two sides in the EFL Championship would clash on Monday evening at the King Power Stadium, with the hosts looking to extend their seven point lead over the Tractor Boys. It certainly wouldn’t be an easy task for the Foxes, who would have to do without Enzo Maresca’s guidance on the touchline as the Italian serves a one match ban from the technical area.

LEI: Hermansen; Pereira, Faes, Vestergaard, Justin; Choudhury, Winks; Mavididi, Dewsbury-Hall, McAteer; Cannon

IPS: Hladky; Davis, Edmundson, Woolfenden, Clarke; Luongo, Travis; Harness, Chaplin, Burns; Jackson

The Foxes looked to be the brighter of the two sides throughout the opening stages on the banks of the River Soar, with Tom Cannon unlucky not to have been able to get his shot off after a fine challenge from Harry Clarke.

Enzo Maresca’s men, guided from the touchline by assistant manager Danny Walker, should have capitalised on another golden opportunity just after the quarter-hour mark, when Ricardo Pereira teed up Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall. The midfielder sought to find Cannon rather than taking on the shot himself, with the ball ultimately rolling out for a goal kick.

But shortly after the half-hour mark, an unfortunate own goal from Leif Davis saw the Foxes take the lead. After playing a quick one-two with Ricardo Pereira, Stephy Mavididi’s ball across the face of goal was turned home by the Ipswich Town left-back to prompt celebrations from the home faithful.

Vaclav Hladky would soon be Ipswich’s hero as the interval edged nearer, with the goalkeeper called upon to deny a low effort from Cannon after he had been found inside the box by Wout Faes.

The Tractor Boys enjoyed a strong start to the second half, pressing aggressively and forcing Mads Hermansen to work through a number of set pieces. Leicester City’s resolve did not waver though, with the Foxes pushing hard to double their advantage – and coming close to doing so, although Cannon’s acrobatic attempt ended up in the stands.

But in the 89th minute, it was Ipswich Town that found the second goal of the game through Jeremy Sarmiento. Hermansen had done well to parry away Massimo Luongo’s long-range strike, but only as far as the Brighton loanee whose shot found a way over the goal line.

Just as they were at Portman Road in December, these two sides were forced to settle for a 1-1 draw at the King Power Stadium – with Ipswich Town rescuing a late point. The Tractor Boys return to 2nd in the EFL Championship table, seven points behind Leicester City.