A double from Jesse Lingard and a goal from Jarrod Bowen was enough to keep West Ham’s Champions League hopes alive, despite Leicester’s best efforts in the second half, as the Hammers held on to beat the Foxes 3-2.
This win was a great gift for West Ham skipper Mark Noble on what was a special day for the midfielder, making his 400th Premier League appearance for his boyhood club.
Problems For Rodgers
Going into the game Leicester were without James Maddison, Ayoze Perez and Hamza Choudhury. Brendan Rodgers omitted the trio from his matchday squad for breaching Covid-19 regulations. After the game Rodgers said he was “bitterly disappointed” and explained how he felt he had no choice but to drop the trio.
Man Of The Moment
West Ham were two goals up by half time after the man of the moment, Jesse Lingard, scored a brace.
West Ham took the lead after Masuaku’s initial cross was taken down by Vladimir Coufal, who cut the ball back to Lingard on the edge of the box. He produced an exquisite cushioned volley which beat Schmeichel and put the Hammers 1-0 ahead.
On the stroke of half time, Bowen cleverly beat Leicester’s offside trap to control a beautiful long pass from Issa Diop.
After driving forward with the ball, he then squared it for Lingard, who rolled the ball into an empty net to score his eighth West Ham goal and give his side a 2-0 lead going into the break.
Deja Vu for Hammers
Three minutes into the second half West Ham found themselves three goals ahead. Lingard had a part in the goal, finding Soucek who set up Bowen to slot the ball into the Leicester net for a deserved goal.
Hammers fans may have felt a sense of deja vu after their recent games against Arsenal and Wolves where they also started brightly and were three goals in front.
Late Fight From The Foxes
Leicester did not really get going until part way through the second half where they began to play with much more urgency and asked questions of West Ham.
The Foxes showed fight and found themselves back in the game by 70 mins. Masuaku was caught in possession by Ricardo Pereira, who found Iheanacho on the edge of the box and the striker made no mistake, firing an effort past Fabianski to make it 3-1.
West Ham remained compact defensively as they tried to avoid a repeat of their last home game against Arsenal.
Shortly after the start of the six minutes of stoppage time, Iheanacho scored again after a low cross from Marc Albrighton, making it 11 goals in 11 games for the Super Eagles striker.
A nervy five minutes for West Ham saw them hold on in the remaining minutes of stoppage time to secure all three points. Their victory saw them back in the top four and within a point of the visitors in third place.
Up Next
West Ham travel to St James’ Park next to take on Newcastle United, while Leicester’s attention will turn to their trip to Wembley for their FA Cup semi final against Southampton.
