West Ham makes it impossible to see last season’s exploits as a fluke. With this evidence, there is no question that they are heading in the right direction with David Moyes, whose tough and talented team seems ready to push for another top-six result after this crushing demolition of Leicester.
No one was concerned that West Ham were the only Premier League team that had not made a permanent transfer this summer. Although they need more depth given that they are in the Europa League, there is nothing wrong with their starting eleven. Moyes has seen his team score eight goals in his first two games and there were so many positives to draw from this win over Leicester. who lost Ayoze Pérez to a red card in the first half.
This was an opportunity to test the theory that West Ham benefited from playing in empty stadiums last season. London Stadium, in full swing for the first time in 18 months, has been an unhappy place in the past and there is an argument that Moyes’s team were able to play in a more restrained style without being constantly urged by the crowd to attack. what allowed them. to maintain your form and ensnare opponents with sharp and precise counterattacks.
However, Moyes had been irritated by those suggestions prior to this game and there was no sign that the atmosphere was holding his players back at the start of the contest. The home fans were willing to do it and West Ham undoubtedly had a sharper lead than the visitors during the early stages, always threatening when Michail Antonio turned to run towards the Leicester defense. The forward was a handful during the first half, his impressive heist play rocked Daniel Amartey and Caglar Soyuncu, and there was a lot to like about his understanding of Saïd Benrahma, who looks much more robust and efficient in the last third at the moment.
Leicester sank at times, the intensity forced them to rush their passes. They wanted to build carefully through their playmaker James Maddison, but Declan Rice and Tomas Soucek always seemed to be in the right place against West Ham’s four defenders. It became a struggle for the Leicester creators and summed up the pattern of play that the first goal, scored by Fornals in the 26th minute, came when Jamie Vardy gifted Rice possession with a loose pass.
Rice got down to business quickly, instantly starting a hiatus at West Ham. The movement advanced apace, Jarrod Bowen participated and Leicester was in trouble when Fornals found Benrahma on the left. Benrahma has had an encouraging start to the season and the £ 30m Algerian did not disappoint with his last ball, swinging a cross back for Fornals to hit a clever left-foot shot that passed Schmeichel.
It was not more than West Ham deserved and although he escaped when Ricardo Pereira missed the opportunity to equalize, he had better control of the game after a moment of insanity from Pérez. The Leicester winger was rash when he entered an inning with Fornals, knocking his cleats down on the Spaniard’s ankle, and Michael Oliver had no choice but to show him a red card after VAR, Darren England, told him to consult the monitor. from the field. .
Leicester’s complaints were impossible to justify. It was clearly a dangerous play by Perez, leaving his teammates in the lurch, and West Ham should have capitalized on their numerical advantage before the break. Antonio was furious with himself after missing an easy header at the far post.
There were more starts for West Ham early in the second half, Soucek got ahead from Bowen’s pitch, Schmeichel somehow parried a header from Antonio. Leicester, with a weak defense with Jonny Evans, Wesley Fofana and Jannik Vestergaard injured, was under siege. They had no way out of their half and the pressure finally said it, Soyuncu the culprit as he sent a lazy backward pass to Antonio, who beat Schmeichel to the ball and spun around before hitting Benrahma for a simple finish.
The only consolation for the hapless Soyuncu is that it could have been any of the Leicester players who made that mistake. West Ham had pushed them out of their comfort zone and it wasn’t long before Schmeichel was puncturing a punt for a pitch, though at least the keeper redeemed himself when he made another excellent save from Antonio.
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Leicester retired one in the 70th minute. Maddison found Youri Tielemans, who edged past Lukasz Fabianski after seeing his first effort blocked by Aaron Cresswell.
However, West Ham regained their two-goal lead as the imperious Rice moved down the left before crossing into Antonio, who pushed Soyuncu aside before beating Schmeichel.
Antonio, who had surpassed Paolo Di Canio’s record of 47 goals in the Premier League for West Ham, brought down the house celebrating with a cardboard cutout of himself and soon scored again, controlling Vladimir Coufal’s center and pushing home.
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