WEST HAM HAVE FOXES ON RUN
Clinical display is just the tonic for stricken Moyes
DAVID MOYES continues to suffer from mild symptoms of coronavirus but West Ham are a team in the rudest of health. Strong at the back, balanced and coherent, quick and clinical on the attack, they destroyed Leicester’s hopes of climbing to the top of the Premier League table.
Michail Antonio and Pablo Fornals put the Hammers in control in the first half at the King Power and Jarrod Bowen grabbed the third, on the break eight minutes from time, to kill the contest.
Leicester, having plundered a dozen in their previous three league outings, including a famous five at Manchester City, barely threatened Lukasz Fabianski’s goal until the visitors were 3-0 up.
Jamie vardy scooped a shot wide when he was clean through with only Fabianski to beat in the last minute and Harvey Barnes put the ball in the net in stoppage time only to see it ruled out for an offside offence.
‘We were nowhere near out best,’ said Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers, who was without the injured James Maddison and Dennis Praet. ‘We lacked intensity and aggression. They were able to play out way too easily from the back. There was a lack of quality in our passing.
‘It was another lesson for us because, if you don’t perform at your maximum at this level, you can fall short. We were off it and they capitalised. We have shown our potential, we need to improve our consistency.’
For West Ham, it was a second Premier League victory in a row following the 4-0 demolition of Wolves at home.
Moreover, it represented back-to-back clean sheets and six points from two games since Moyes and two players, Issa Diop and Josh Cullen, tested positive for coronavirus almost two weeks ago. Diop is back in training, although not involved here, and Cullen is close to a move to Anderlecht.
Moyes hopes to be on the training pitch this week, perhaps tomorrow, and expects to be on the touchline when West Ham play Spurs after the international break.
‘I believe he was dancing around his apartment after the last one, so I imagine he’ll be doing much the same again,’ smiled his assistant Alan Irvine. ‘ He’s doing very well from there, absolutely. David is heavily involved in everything. We talk about training, he picks the team and we talk about substitutions during the game.’
Moyes made the call to hand vladimir Coufal a debut at wing back, just days after a £5 million move from Slavia Prague, and to start once again with the club’s big-money stars Felipe Anderson, Sebastien Haller and
Andriy yarmolenko on the bench. Antonio’s form has made that decision simple.
he ran tirelessly, provided a physical presence and aerial threat, and he opened the scoring when he drifted behind Caglar Soyuncu and met a deep cross from Aaron Cresswell at the far post.
It was a textbook header, planted firmly down and across goal and, as it nestled into the net, he became the first West ham player to score in five consecutive top-flight away games since Mike Small in 1991.
Antonio, at this point of the game, had scored his team’s last seven away goals in the Premier League, although his teammates would soon get in on the act.
Fornals converted the second before halftime, bursting through Leicester’s defensive line to collect a spiralling clearance from Cresswell with an exquisite first touch, did not break his stride and beat Kasper Schmeichel at his near post.
Leicester lost daniel Amartey, one of their three central defenders, to a hamstring problem soon after the interval and Rodgers used the setback as an opportunity to change the shape of his team.
It was a bitter blow for Amartey who has only recently returned after two years blighted by injuries. Cengiz Under was sent on for his debut and Leicester flexed into a back four. Kelechi Iheanacho soon followed from the bench.
West ham proved strong in defence, their back five superbly shielded by declan Rice and Tomas Soucek, and they lost none of their potency on the break. vardy was starved of touches at one end as Antonio feasted at the other, tormenting the central defenders and forcing more saves from Schmeichel as Leicester took more risks and poured forward.
Jonny Evans denied Fornals and Rice crashed a left-footer against the bar after a rampaging run from his own half.
But West ham deserved their third and it came from Bowen, with a confident finish after a pass from Fornals.
Irvine praised the ‘shape’ and their ‘work ethic’ — not qualities commonly associated with West ham but their determination to come away with a clean sheet was epitomised by Angelo ogbonna who whooped in celebration at the late miss from vardy and the vAR intervention to rule out the goal by Barnes. ‘I’m not sure how important it’s been to them previously,’ said Irvine. ‘There’s a pride in keeping a clean sheet.’
LEICESTER (3-4-3): Schmeichel 6; Amartey 5 (Under 55 min, 5), Evans 6, Soyuncu 5.5; Castagne 6, Tielemans 6, Mendy 6 (Choudhury 89), Justin 6; Perez 5 (Iheanacho 64, 5), Vardy 5.5, Barnes 5. Subs not used: Ward, Fofana, Fuchs, Albrighton. Booked: Mendy, Evans. Manager: Brendan Rodgers 5. WEST HAM (3-4-2-1): Fabianski 6; Balbuena 6.5, Ogbonna 7, Cresswell 7; Coufal 6.5, Soucek 7, Rice 7.5, Masuaku 6.5; Bowen 7 (Noble 88), Fornals 7; ANTONIO 8 (Haller 88).
Subs not used: Randolph, Johnson, Yarmolenko, Anderson, Lanzini. Booked: Fornals, Coufal. Scorers: Antonio 14, Fornals 34, Bowen 83.
Manager: David Moyes 7.5. Referee: Andy Madley 6.5.