Palace put Leicester to the sword

Cape Town - Crystal Palace moved to the brink of securing their Premier League status for a sixth straight season after they thumped Leicester 5-0 at Selhurst Park on Saturday.

Goals from Wilfred Zaha, James McArthur, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Patrick van Aanholt and Christian Benteke handed Palace back-to-back home victories in the league for the first time since April 2017.

The Foxes offered very little in attack and finished the game with 10 men after Marc Albrighton was shown a straight red when he tugged back Zaha.

The hosts ran out the blocks and had a shot at goal in the second minute. Andros Townsend squared the ball to McArthur, who could only poke the ball towards goal. The effort lacked power and was straight at Ben Hamer.

In the 15th minute, the Eagles had Joel Ward to thank for not being a goal down when the right-back cleared off the line from a Jamie Vardy shot after Kelechi Iheanacho had manufactured the opportunity.

Palace took the lead two minutes later. A well-constructed move that involved Loftus-Cheek, Yohan Cabaye and the assist from McArthur was finally polished off by Zaha for his eighth goal of the season - a clinical side-footed finish into the roof of the net.

Roy Hodgson's side doubled their lead nine minutes before the break. Zaha returned the favour to McArthur when he found the Scot with a low cross and he scored with a clever swivel and shot low into the bottom-right corner.

The visitors' task was made even harder 11 minutes into the second half when Albrighton committed a professional foul on Zaha after the Ivorian threatened to run through on goal following a poor back-pass from the City winger.

The east Londoners made it three in the 81st minute. Mamadou Sakho played in Loftus-Cheek, who rounded Hamer and tucked it into an empty net.

Two minutes later they found a fourth. Jeffrey Schlupp's shot fell to Van Aanholt on the edge of the box and the Dutchman curled into the far corner.

Benteke came off the bench and added a fifth from the penalty spot as he scored his first goal at home this season.