Everton striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin committed arguably the miss of the season in the huge relegation battle against Leicester on Monday. The England forward somehow missed from a couple of yards out before the Foxes almost scored a third through Jamie Vardy just seconds later.
Calvert-Lewin’s return to fitness has been a boost to Everton’s chances of fighting off the drop. And he was quickly on the scoresheet at the King Power Stadium.
He opened the scoring from the penalty spot in the 15th minute. Leicester turned the game on its head through goals from Caglar Soyuncu and Vardy before Calvert-Lewin’s glaring chance.
Dwight McNeil entered the Leicester box from the left and pulled the ball back for the striker. The goal was staring Calvert-Lewin in the face but he could only deflect the ball back where it came from, with fans quickly labelling it the miss of the season on social media.
A matter of seconds later, Leicester went up the other end and should have scored themselves. Vardy was through on goal but his chip landed on top of the bar and bounced over.
Former Leicester striker Alan Smith was on co-commentary for Sky Sports and described both incidents. He said: “How has [Calvert-Lewin] missed? I think it’s come off his ankle bone or his heel. He certainly didn’t get a clean connection.
“Well it could easily have been 2-2, it could easily have been 3-1. He’s a yard out virtually, Calvert-Lewin. It just gets a nick off the defender and he just doesn’t catch it. Incredible.
“After that does he take one touch too many Jamie Vardy? He certainly gets too much on the dink. Everton have been let off the hook. It looked for all the world that the Leicester No 9 was going to get that.
“Well if Everton end up losing this, Calvert-Lewin will be having nightmares about his miss, underneath the Leicester crossbar virtually. He just doesn’t open up his foot, that’s all he needed to do. [Vardy] just gets too much on this 15 seconds later.”
Leicester than had another glorious chance to go 3-1 ahead after Michael Keane was adjudged to have handled in his own 18-yard box. However, Jordan Pickford remained still and saved James Maddison’s tame penalty which was stuck down the middle.
Both teams went into the match desperate for the points. Victory for either side would take them above both Nottingham Forest and Leeds and out of the relegation zone.
Alex Iwobi equalised for Everton early in the second half. Both teams pushed for a winner late on but they had to settle for a 2-2 draw which moved Leicester up to 16th, while Sean Dyche’s side remain 19th.
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