Leicester City vs West Ham United. Premier League.
The King Power Stadium.
Report and free match highlights as West Ham continue to impress with David Moyes working from home
Sunday 4 October 2020 18:08, UK
West Ham made it back-to-back Premier League wins with an outstanding performance to dispatch Leicester 3-0 at the King Power Stadium.
Leicester had a chance to go top with victory but were second best in every department as Michail Antonio (14), Pablo Fornals (34) and Jarrod Bowen (83) hit the bullseye for the Hammers.
After putting five past Manchester City last weekend, Brendan Rodgers' team went from terrific to toothless, failing to register a shot on target from their four attempts on goal.
Meanwhile, David Moyes has got the Hammers moving in the right direction despite him having to manage from home due to suffering from Covid-19.
Leicester were looking to win their opening four league games for the first time in their history but Rodgers' side never got into a rhythm against the organised Hammers, who had Alan Irvine in the dugout once again in the absence of Moyes.
The visitors took just 14 minutes to get their noses in front thanks to the brilliant Antonio. His hold-up play drew the foul by Caglar Soyuncu out wide on the right before taking the free-kick quickly to sweep the ball out to Aaron Cresswell. Antonio continued his run into the box and was in the perfect place to head home a quality cross from his teammate.
With the service into Jamie Vardy limited, Leicester continued to struggle. It wasn't a surprise when West Ham doubled their lead after 34 minutes.
Cresswell again was the architect, this time booting a clearance over the top of the Leicester back three for Fornals to chase. The midfielder brought the ball under control with plenty of swagger before steadying himself to fire low past Kasper Schmeichel.
Lukasz Fabianski was a mere spectator for large parts of the game but his poor clearance almost allowed Harvey Barnes to bring Leicester back into the game. However, his volley flew wide just after the break.
It was the Hammers who looked the more dangerous going forward and it would have been 3-0 if Jonny Evans had not blocked Fornals' effort inside the six-yard box.
The excellent Declan Rice struck the crossbar midway through the second period. His surging run backed Evans deep into his own box but Rice's well struck effort smashed back off the underside of the crossbar.
West Ham deserved a third and got it through the tireless Bowen on 83 minutes.
After yet more superb break-up play from Rice to find Fornals, the Hammers countered in numbers and the Spaniard found Bowen, who darted through on goal and finished neatly past Schmeichel.
Vardy was finally given the service he craved in injury time but chipped a glorious chance wide before Barnes then had a goal chalked off by VAR in injury time after Vardy was marginally offside in the build-up.
Take your pick for the best player award from the away side. Rice, Angelo Ogbonna and Bowen were all outstanding. But it was the continued influence of Antonio that set the platform for the Hammers to stop Leicester from gaining any sort of control on the game. His ability to run the channels and pull Evans and Caglar Soyuncu - two of the best defenders in the Premier League - all over the pitch was a masterclass in forward play.
When he got the ball too, his quality was clear, diverting home the opening goal with a fine header. No player has scored more goals than Antonio (10) since the Premier League returned in June.
Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers said: "It's just one of those days. It starts with defending and we lacked intensity and aggression. When the ball broke down at the top end of the field our contributions were nowhere near the level, West Ham played out far too easily.
"We had a lack of precision and quality. We actually went through the lines really well in the first half but we couldn't get Jamie (Vardy) away or we gave the ball away far too easy.
"So that combination at both ends of the pitch meant it was not a good day for us.
"We have made a really good start with nine points from the first four games and we had a chance to make it a great start by winning all four but we didn't.
"It has given us another lesson at this level that if you don't perform to your maximum, then you fall short.
"But I thought West Ham deserved it. Give credit to West Ham, they got the points, but we were well below our best and if you are like that then you get punished."
West Ham assistant manager Alan Irvine: "Everybody is doing their jobs and doing it extremely well. Players have shown a fantastic work ethic, commitment, filling in for each other, the importance of clean sheets. That's the platform you build on. I believe he [Moyes] was dancing around his apartment after the last win. We will be training on Tuesday and hopefully, all being well, he will be back in."
The teams will now have a weekend off for the international break. Leicester host Aston Villa on Saturday October 17 whilst West Ham have a tasty encounter with Tottenham to look forward to on Super Sunday.
