LEICESTER 0
Hammers opened the scoring. Arthur Masuaku crossed, Arnautovic took advantage of Christian Fuchs tripping to feed Mario, who scored his second goal for the club. Skipper Noble’s longrange strike with the sweetest connection sparked scenes of joy among the visiting supporters and the midfielder was straight over to them to celebrate. The jubilant scenes were mirrored by sour faces in the Leicester directors’ box. There have been mutterings already about the way results have tailed off and rumblings about players unhappy about their training regime.
Puel said: “There is disappointment. It was important to give a good reward for our fans. We saw the difference between a team playing comfortably and another playing for their position.
“This is a tough situation. I want to finish strongly in the two last games. I hope we can pass this difficult moment. If we can get past this tough situation, it will be great for the future.”
The question is whether the owners see signs of a recovery. Puel has two more games this season to provide that evidence. Hamer 5, Choudhury 6 (Iheanacho, 59, 4), Morgan 5, Maguire 6, Fuchs 5, Silva 5, Iborra 4 (Dragovic, 45, 5), Benalouane 5, Mahrez 5, Diabate 5 (Gray, 59, 4), Vardy 5. Subs not used: Jakupovic, Thomas, Barnes, Hughes
Adrian 6, Ogbonna 7, Cresswell 7, Rice 7, Noble 8, Zabaleta 7, Kouyaté 7, Masuaku 7 (Evra,90), João Mário 7, Arnautovic 8 (Fernandes, 78, 5), Lanzini 7 (Carroll, 74, 5) Subs not used: Hugill, Obiang, Cullen, Trott. REFEREE: Chris Kavangh 6. ■■This was Tottenham’s first defeat against the side starting the day bottom of the table since also losing against West Brom in September 2014.