Leicester 1-1 Everton: Stephy Mavididi cancels out Iliman Ndiaye opener for Toffees

The rain threatened to dampen Leicester’s day and, while their return to the top light has not been perfect, they have collected three draws from their opening five games to lie 15th in the table.

But they will need to start picking up victories quickly if they are to survive, particularly manager Cooper, whose winless run in the division – including his time at previous club Nottingham Forest – extended to 18 games.

The Foxes were relegated two seasons ago with a costly draw towards the end of the campaign against Everton and have now failed to keep a home clean sheet in their past 16 Premier League games.

With a measure of revenge in mind, they battled back courtesy of a scrambled strike from Mavididi, who span on a loose ball and fired into the roof of the net past the Everton backline.

Before that, Italian centre-back Caleb Okoli somehow sent a free header over the crossbar from five yards out and, despite a late push, they were unable to find a winner.

Cooper said: “We definitely were the stronger team in the second half but nowhere near the level in the first half. We wanted to take the game to Everton, attack the game and we did everything but that.

“We were deservedly losing the game and the players knew that. I told them as well. When that happens, you can go under and hide, and the game can go worse, or you can do what we did. We ran a bit more, fought and won duels and tackles.

“We finished a lot stronger but only managed to get the point. It is a game and result that should have been better but the way the game played out, it could have been worse.”