Pickford happy to see ‘homework’ pay off with Maddison penalty save

Everton’s Jordan Pickford feels he won the mind games with Leicester’s James Maddison after his crucial penalty save.

The England goalkeeper stopped Maddison’s first-half spot-kick before Alex Iwobi’s leveller secured a 2-2 draw for the Toffees at the King Power Stadium on Monday evening.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s penalty had given the 19th-placed visitors the lead before the Foxes hit back with goals from Caglar Soyuncu and Jamie Vardy.

Pickford stopped the hosts going 3-1 ahead by denying Maddison from 12 yards, after Michael Keane’s handball, with the notes on his water bottle telling him the forward goes down the middle 60 per cent of the time.

“I do my homework. I called it this morning, which way I was going to go, but he’s a good player with his delivery and he can whip it or open it up,” he told Everton’s website.

“I think he expects me to dive so I think I’ve double-bluffed him and got one up on him. It was a big moment in the game and I’m happy I saved it because that’s what I’m there to do, try to help out my team-mates if they make mistakes.

“We’re both fighting. We’re both down there. There’s probably a bit of anxiety, a bit of pressure out on the pitch from both teams.

“I thought we played brilliant in the first 20 minutes – we did exactly what the gaffer wanted from us, then we dropped off the boil and they came into the game a bit.

“We created a lot of chances. Their keeper, (Daniel) Iversen, made some very good saves, so credit to him because when he was called upon he made those saves.

“I think it’s the most chances we’ve created since the manager (Sean Dyche) came in (in late January), if not all season, so that’s a plus but a negative as well.”

Leicester – one point better off than Everton – moved out of the drop zone on goal difference ahead of next Monday afternoon’s game at Fulham.

They will still be out of the bottom three when they kick off at Craven Cottage as rivals Nottingham Forest host Southampton on Monday evening.

“We’ve come away with a point, so we’ll take that,” defender Luke Thomas told the club’s website.

“We’ve got ourselves out of the relegation zone and it’s three games undefeated.

“I don’t think there’s been many times this season where we’ve done that. We’ve struggled, but that’s a positive to take and hopefully on Monday we can make that four.”