Sunday 20 September 2015 07:30, UK
Leicester City fought back from 2-0 down for the second weekend in succession to extend their unbeaten start to the Premier League season with a 2-2 draw at Stoke City.
Stoke raced into a commanding half-time lead thanks to two goals in seven minutes from Bojan and Jon Walters.
But a penalty from Riyad Mahrez six minutes after the restart allowed Leicester back into the game and Jamie Vardy completed the comeback with a 69th-minute equaliser.
It was the second time in seven days that Leicester had gone 2-0 behind, but unlike in their 3-2 win over Aston Villa last Sunday, they were unable to snatch a winner in an entertaining contest.
The result moves Leicester on to 12 points but prolongs Stoke's winless start to the campaign and leaves Mark Hughes' side on just three points.
Leicester made the better start and could have taken the lead when Jeff Schlupp cut the ball back to in-form top-scorer Mahrez on the edge of the D, but the Algerian's tame left-foot shot was easily saved by Jack Butland.
The scare woke Stoke up and they took the lead three minutes later, after Marko Arnautovic cut in from the left wing and slipped through Bojan, who marked his first league start since January by slotting low past Kasper Schmeichel in the 13th minute.
Confidence suddenly surged through the hosts and they doubled their advantage in the 20th minute, albeit with a huge helping hand from Wes Morgan. The Leicester centre-back fluffed a back-pass to Schmeichel and Walters duly ran on to the loose ball and sidefooted home.
Leicester made a slow start to the second half but were gifted a route back into the game when Arnautovic needlessly bundled over Danny Drinkwater just inside the box.
Mahrez converted the resulting penalty with aplomb and, in doing so, injected fresh belief and energy into the visitors.
Vardy squandered two chances to equalise, first slicing a volley over and then shooting straight at Butland, but out of nothing, he then finally brought his side level with a scuffed left-foot shot after Mahrez had flicked a goal-kick into his path.
Both teams pushed hard for a winner, but the closest either came was a low right-footer from Vardy that rolled narrowly wide in the 94th minute.
Soccer Saturday verdict - Paul Merson
"At half-time I am not sure if they swapped shirts, it was all Leicester in the second half. Sometimes it is easy to play when you are 2-0 down, you haven't got the pressure on you. If anyone was going to win it, you'd have said Leicester. Fair play, if it was a boxing match you would have stopped it at half-time.
"Stoke were absolutely brilliant, at half-time I said they were Harlem Globetrotters. The second half was completely brilliant. It's a nightmare for the manager because you go in at half-time 2-0 up so what do you say to the players?"
Player ratings
Stoke: Butland (7); Johnson (6), Cameron (6), Wilson (6), Pieters (6); Whelan (6), Van Ginkel (7); Shaqiri (7), Bojan (8), Arnautovic (6); Walters (7).
Subs: Ireland (6), Odemwingie (6), Crouch (6).
Leicester: Schmeichel (7); De Laet (7), Huth (6), Morgan (5), Schlupp (7); Mahrez (7), Drinkwater (6), Inler (6), Kante (5); Okazaki (6), Vardy (7).
Subs: Albrighton (6), King (6), Ulloa (6).
Man of the match: Bojan.
