LONDON: Leicester edged off the bottom of the Premier League despite drawing a blank in a goalless draw with Crystal Palace on Saturday as Nottingham Forest fell to the foot of the table after losing 1-0 at Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Fulham and Bournemouth remain in the top half of the table after sharing the points in a 2-2 draw at Craven Cottage.

Leicester’s only league win this season was a 4-0 victory against Forest earlier this month but that proved to be a false dawn for the 2016 champions.

The Foxes, who have the leakiest defence in the division, were solid at the back on Saturday but failed to capitalise on their chances at the King Power.

“The players are fighting and running and giving everything,” said Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers. “I always felt after the summer market we would have to fight our way through the season but the players are doing that and hopefully we will get better results as the season goes on.”

Steve Cooper’s Forest have taken just one point from their last seven games on their return to the top flight after 23 years after losing out in a tale of two penalties at Molineux.

Ruben Neves scored from the spot to move managerless Wolves out of the bottom three before Jose Sa saved Brennan Johnson’s penalty at the other end.

Bournemouth extended their unbeaten run to six games under caretaker boss Gary O’Neil, but let a win slip away after leading twice at Fulham.

Dominic Solanke slotted home the opener from Philip Billing’s cut-back after just two minutes.

Issa Diop levelled midway through the first half with a towering header from Andreas Pereira’s corner, but Bournemouth retook the lead just seven minutes later when Solanke teed up Jefferson Lerma.

Aleksandar Mitrovic had been a doubt due to a foot injury, but Fulham’s talisman made his mark from the penalty spot to salvage a point after he had been hauled down inside the area by Lerma.

On Friday night, Brentford striker Ivan Toney scored with a deft backheel finish in the first half and added a penalty in the second to give his side a 2-0 win over Brighton & Hove Albion at the Gtech Community Stadium.

It ended a three-game winless run for the Bees as the home side moved eighth in the standings on 13 points, one behind seventh-placed Brighton, who are still searching for their first win under new boss Roberto de Zerbi.

Published in Dawn, October 16th, 2022