It’s another fine mess for Jesse

LINGARD HERO AGAIN DESPITE WOBBLE

WEST HAM 3 LEICESTER 2 TWO-GOAL hero Jesse Lingard celebrated West Ham’s return to top-four orbit but said: “We almost made a mess of it.”

Lingard’s latest matchwinning display was nearly undermined by Leicester’s late revival – a near-repeat of Arsenal’s comeback from 3-0 down to draw 3-3 at the London Stadium last month.

England livewire Lingard said: “We almost made a mess of it at the end. It has been like that for the past three games, but we are still learning.

“There is a big belief in the team. To finish in the top four would be a brilliant achievement – to be in the Champions League for the first time in West Ham’s history.”

In a frantic finale, Wesley Fofana’s last-gasp header almost snatched a point for Leicester.

The Foxes fell behind after 29 minutes as Lingard’s shot from Vladimir Coufal’s cut-back bounced inside the near post.

A minute before the break Jarrod Bowen raced on to Issa Diop’s clearance and teed up Lingard to roll the ball into an empty net. And when Kelechi Iheanacho gave the ball away the Foxes’ defence evaporated, leaving Lingard and Tomas Soucek to set up Bowen for his eighth goal of the season. But the Foxes hit back when Arthur Masuaku’s dawdling was punished by Iheanacho’s rasping finish with 20 minutes remaining. And the striker’s second goal in stoppage time, from Marc Albrighton’s low cross, set up a tense finish.

WEST HAM (4-2-3-1): Fabianski 7; Coufal 7, Dawson 7, Diop 7, Cresswell 6 (Balbuena, 53, 6); Soucek 6, Noble 7 (Johnson, 82); Fornals 6, Lingard 9, Masuaku 7; Bowen 8 (Benrahma, 84). Goals: Lingard 29, 44, Bowen 48.

LEICESTER (3-4-1-2): Schmeichel 5; Amartey 4 (Thomas, 46, 6), Evans 5, Fofana 5; Pereira 6, Tielemans 7, Ndidi 4, Castagne 5; Praet 5 (Albrighton, 59, 7); Iheanacho 7, Vardy 6. Goals: Iheanacho 70, 90.