Caglar Soyuncu’s first goal for his club and a late effort by Jamie Vardy earned Leicester City a 2-0 win at Crystal Palace to move it back into third place in the Premier League on Sunday.
Turkish centre back Soyuncu broke the deadlock at Selhurst Park when he headed home James Maddison’s 57th-minute corner.
Vardy fired in his 10th league goal of the season late on to seal the points and a third successive win for Leicester.
After last week’s runaway 9-0 thrashing of Southampton, Leicester produced a controlled performance to move to 23 points from 11 games, two points behind Manchester City.
Sloppy
Earlier on Saturday, Frank Lampard said “sloppy” Chelsea needs to be more clinical after it survived a tense finish to climb to third place in the Premier League with a 2-1 victory at lowly Watford.
Lampard’s side bounced back from its midweek League Cup defeat against Manchester United to make it five successive league wins on Saturday.
His decision to go with unproven youngsters like Tammy Abraham, who opened the scoring, has been a shrewd move, while Christian Pulisic, scorer of the second, is justifying his hefty price tag after starting the season on the bench.
Juve stays on top
In Italy, Matthijs de Ligt made sure Juventus kept hold of top spot in Serie A on Saturday after his first goal for the club saw off local rival Torino, leaving Inter Milan in second despite Romelu Lukaku taking his league tally to nine with a brace in a 2-1 win at Bologna.
Inter had briefly led after Lukaku slotted home a 92nd-minute penalty to snatch the three points at Bologna, but Juve retook first place thanks to De Ligt, who smashed home the only goal of the game in Turin with 20 minutes remaining.
Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid each passed up the chance to go top of La Liga on Saturday after Barcelona conceded three goals in seven minutes during a surprise 3-1 defeat by Levante.
Lionel Messi converted a first-half penalty at the City of Valencia Stadium for his sixth goal in five games only for Levante to stun the defending champion with an incredible treble shortly after the hour.
Missed chances
Yet Atletico and Sevilla played out a 1-1 draw at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan, where Diego Costa missed a penalty, before Real squandered a string of opportunities at the Santiago Bernabeu in a goalless draw against Real Betis.
It means Barca will be relieved to stay at the summit — ahead of Atletico by a point with a game in hand and in front of Real on goal difference — even if its collapse against Levante should offer encouragement to its title rivals.
The results: Premier League: Crystal Palace 0 lost to Leicester 2 (Soyuncu 57, Vardy 88).
La Liga: Valladolid 3 (Fernandez Moreno 40, Unal 50-pen, Ramirez 90+4) bt Real Mallorca 0; Villarreal 0 drew with Athletic Bilbao 0.
Saturday: Premier League: Watford 1 (Deulofeu 80-pen) lost to Chelsea 2 (Abraham 5, Pulisic 55).
La Liga: Levante 3 (Campana 60, Mayoral 63, Radoja 68) bt Barcelona 1 (Messi 38-pen); Sevilla 1 (Vazquez 28) drew with Atletico Madrid 1 (Morata 60); Real Madrid 0 drew with Real Betis 0.
Serie A: Torino 0 lost to Juventus 1 (De Ligt 70); Bologna 1 (Soriano 59) lost to Inter Milan 2 (Lukaku 75, 90+2-pen).
Bundesliga: Union Berlin 1 (Polter 90-pen) bt Hertha Berlin 0.
