Leicester City 1 Swansea City 1: Fernandez extends visitors´ unbeaten streak

Swansea City extended their unbeaten run to seven games after Federico Fernandez’s equaliser earned them a 1-1 draw against Leicester City.

Jamie Vardy gave Leicester a first-half lead and Claude Puel’s side looked set to bounce back from their defeat to Everton last time out with a win until Swansea mounted a fightback after the break.

Carlos Carvalhal has only suffered one defeat since he took the reins at Swansea and whatever he said to his players at half-time had the desired effect and they drew level through Fernandez within seven minutes of the restart.

Having struggled to contain Kelechi Iheanacho and Vardy early on, Swansea got to grips with Leicester’s star players and put in a gritty defensive display that lifted them just clear of the Premier League relegation zone. They have not lost in all competitions since January 2.

The result will not have unduly worried Puel given that his side have lost just one of their last nine games across all competitions, but with a trip to Manchester City looming next weekend he will need to ensure Leicester can sustain their best football over 90 minutes next time out.

A well-earned point on the road! #LEISWA pic.twitter.com/nnbQKFIlcl

— Swansea City AFC (@SwansOfficial) February 3, 2018

Fousseni Diabate began his full home debut for Leicester with a bad foul on Sam Clucas that earned him a yellow card after just two minutes.

Leicester’s uncompromising approach helped them keep Swansea in their own half early on as Wilfred Ndidi and Adrien Silva probed the visitors’ defence and sought to put Vardy through on goal.

After 17 minutes, Kelechi Iheanacho’s deft footwork proved Swansea’s undoing when the Nigeria forward jinked his way past Fernandez and Mike van der Hoorn before sliding the ball to Vardy, who happily side-footed the ball into the bottom-right corner from six yards.

Later in the half, a one-two between Vardy and Diabate allowed the Mali youth international to fire a shot at Lukasz Fabianski, who parried the ball away before Alfie Mawson blocked Iheanacho’s follow-up with his shoulder.

And a frustrating opening period for Swansea took another bad turn when Leroy Fer went down holding his lower leg after charging through a crowded Leicester midfield and had to be taken off on a stretcher.

Vardy, one-nil.

#LeiSwa pic.twitter.com/RpcrC8xb6U

— Leicester City (@LCFC) February 3, 2018

Swansea emerged after the break with a sense of urgency about their play and they drew level when Fernandez met Ki Sung-yueng’s corner with a downward header from the edge of the six-yard box that hit the net before Kasper Schmeichel could react.

Having dominated the first half, Leicester found themselves pegged back as Swansea pressed for a second, although Diabate fired narrowly wide from 10 yards out after Vardy counter-attacked down the right flank.

Leicester slowly turned the tide and Harry Maguire fired narrowly wide when he met Marc Albrighton’s looping free-kick with a diving header at the far-post.

Puel sent on Shinji Okazaki for Danny Simpson for the last 10 minutes but Swansea had bolted the gates and despite peppering the visitors’ penalty area with deliveries, there was no end product from the Leicester strikers to force a victory.