WEST HAM 1
LEICESTER 1
in football. And they lived up to that reputation in the East Midlands.
After more than an hour of dogged resistance and with the finishing line in sight, it took Wilfred Ndidi’s shot, deflected off Balbuena’s backside in the dying moments, to deprive them of the plaudits and three points.
Until then it appeared that times really might be changing for those of a claret and blue persuasion.
Balbuena had opened the scoring, thumping home the rebound after his header from a free-kick hit the upright and bounced back to him.
Mark Noble was then dismissed for a poor lunge on Ndidi.
With a raft of injuries and reduced to 10 men for over an hour, the Hammers somehow dug deep and clawed themselves further away from trouble.
But this is West Ham. A club with a first-class degree (with honours) in producing the unexpected.
Just when it appeared that every possible avenue Leicester had explored was a dead end, Ndidi let fly from 25 yards.
The shot in itself might not have caused Lukasz Fabianski much of a problem.
But the Pole could only watch in frustration as it cannoned into his colleague’s posterior and looped into the net.
Leicester had made all the running for an hour.
And could argue the heavy balance of chances in their favour should have earned something. It would be difficult to counter that. Hammers spearhead Marko Arnautovic had been ruled out on the morning of the match because of sickness. And as a result, his side struggled to find its rhythm. But all of that changed following a free-kick on the half-hour. Felipe Anderson swung over a cross to the far post. Declan Rice