Peter Crouch came off the substitute bench to help Stoke City come from behind to claim a point against Leicester City in a thrilling Premier League game at Bet365 Stadium.
The result maintained Claude Puel’s unbeaten start as Leicester boss after the Frenchman’s new side beat Everton in his first game in charge.
Switzerland playmaker Xherdan Shaqiri was involved in both of the home side’s goals, curling in the first equaliser at the far post before providing the corner for substitute Peter Crouch’s thumping header.
Leicester went ahead when Vicente Iborra lashed home from a corner and the Spaniard could have had a first-half hat-trick but saw a close-range effort blocked and powered a header over the crossbar.
READ: Celtic make history with 63 games unbeaten
Former PFA Player of the Year Riyad Mahrez impressed throughout for the visitors and cut in from the left to drill home Leicester’s second, before Crouch levelled.
Foxes goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel made a string of saves to preserve a point, the best of which came from Kurt Zouma’s header in the last minute of added time.
The appointment of Puel received a largely underwhelming reaction from Leicester supporters as a result of Southampton being judged to have had a conservative style of play when he was in charge at St Mary’s.
He guided the south coast club to eighth place in the league and a cup final, but ended his time at Saints with one goal in his final six games.
But the 56-year-old seems to have permitted his new charges a more free-flowing approach, allowing Algeria forward Mahrez and the spritely Demarai Gray to roam in the final third.
Gray, often a fringe player under previous Foxes managers Claudio Ranieri and Craig Shakespeare, has started both games under Puel and showed how dangerous he can be against Stoke with his pace and trickery.
After requesting a transfer in the summer, team-mate Mahrez has also improved recently, delivering a goal or an assist in each of his last four league games and scoring on his 150th appearance for the club.
Midfielder Iborra netted his first Leicester goal as Stoke failed to clear but the former Sevilla player – who was imposing in the middle of the park, winning the ball seven times – limped off with an ankle injury in the second half.
Leicester ultimately had Schmeichel to thank for the point though, the Denmark keeper making five impressive saves including keeping out low drives from Shaqiri and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting as well as efforts from defenders Zouma and Ryan Shawcross.
