4 December 2024
Leicester 3 West Ham 1
Ruud van Nistelrooy took charge of his first game as Leicester City manager. The fans welcomed him at the King Power Stadium, as he looked to keep them in the Premier League. With West Ham the visitors, there was a manager under intense pressure in the away dugout. The Hammers had made a poor start to the season and his head is well and truly on the chopping block.
It took just two minutes for the van Nistelrooy era to get going. The ball was slotted into the path of Vardy, who ran into the box from a tight angle. With only Hermansen to beat, the veteran striker struck it into the far corner to send the King Power wild. Sadly, it was short-lived as the assistant’s flag went up for offside. The VAR review that followed took some time.
Eventually, they came to the correct decision that Vardy was in fact onside. He got to celebrate his goal all over again, as did his manager. It was the perfect start to the game and everything The Foxes’ fans had hoped for as they headed to the stadium. Points were what they desperately needed right now, so as to not be dragged into a relegation dogfight.
West Ham didn’t let their heads drop at this stage. As Bowen clipped a ball into the box, Ings met it with a header, only to see his effort come back off the post. As Kilman tried to bury the loose ball, a superb sliding challenge blocked to keep the Leicester clean sheet intact. It was a warning of what The Hammers are capable of in the final third however.
Apart from the goal, West Ham dominated the opening half of the game. They continued to ask questions of Leicester and particularly their keeper. As a cross came in, Bowen met it on the volley but once again Hermansen made a great save. He has been in great form for The Foxes and will need to be for quite some time yet.
The Foxes headed in at the break ahead. Just as the new manager had seen it pan out in his nightly visions before this match. Now they just needed to build and make sure they came away from this with all three points. All too often this season they have led but gone on to lose games, they needed to get used to that winning feeling again from last season.
When the pressure builds on a manager, it is often asked whether the players have ‘downed tools’ for their boss. You can never make this accusation of Bowen. He may not have been in the goals of late but his industry is second to none. He was constantly making himself available in attacks and almost drew them level with a shot from the edge of the box. They were getting closer.
Then Kudus had a strike take a huge deflection on the edge of the box. It ballooned into the air, looping towards the top corner of the goal. Hermansen dived full-stretch to tip it over the bar. That was to prove a big moment for The Foxes. West Ham were throwing everything at them but they still had their clean sheet intact.
It makes a huge difference to know you have a keeper you can trust behind you as a defender. All of these Leicester defenders should be some of the most confident in the league. Hermansen is pulling out all the stops every week, this time acrobatically tipping away Kudus’ well-struck effort. If it wasn’t for him, The Hammers would be out of sight by now.
The visitors thought they had drawn level when Hermansen struggled to deal with a cross and the ball ended up dropping into the net. The referee immediately blew his whistle and awarded a free kick to the keeper. As the replay showed, it was deemed that Soucek had fouled him in order for the ball to end up in the back of the net. Close call.
Against the run of play, Leicester came forward. As the cross came in from the left, El Khannouss slid in to divert the ball into the bottom corner of the goal. The King Power Stadium was rocking, they were one step closer to that much sought after win. Lopetegui could not believe that they hadn’t scored given the dominance of his side in this game.
Van Nistelrooy’s side almost put the game to bed when Ndidi met a cross with a powerful header. It seemed destined for the back of the net until Fabianski reacted brilliantly to palm it over the bar. He had certainly kept his side in this match with that save. This was end-to-end stuff with two sides desperate for victory.
A long ball forward by Kristiansen caught the visitors out. Daka got there before the defender and made a beeline for goal. With a slightly tight angle, he smashed the ball into the top corner of the near post. The sheer force of his effort had caught out Fabianski. The ground was a cauldron of noise as they knew this sealed the win they all wanted to see.
Deep into added time West Ham forced a corner. As the cross came in, it was flicked on at the near post, for Fullkrug to score. There was barely any celebration from the German as they knew this game was gone. While van Nistelrooy will take great delight with this victory but will keep his side grounded as to the long haul goals of the season.
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