West Ham 1 City 2
Report by Kate Thompson
I went to this game really not expecting anything other than a West Ham win. Oh ye, of little faith! But in my defence, we had only won there once in 48 years (in 2000) and lost all our games in London last season, apart from the FA Cup win at Spurs.
Belying his ‘tinkerman’ reputation, Ranieri picked the same team and all but one of the same substitutes; the exception was that the Development Squad keeper, Maddison, was named instead of Schwarzer.
City started much more tentatively than they had against Sunderland, and West Ham could have been a goal up within a few minutes of the start. Fortunately the header from the ‘Wunder kind’ was diverted onto the crossbar by Morgan, although the referee gave a goal kick.
Slowly, slowly (to use one of Ranieri’s favourite expressions) Leicester began to make their mark and Mahrez could have scored, but for good goalkeeping. If I have one complaint, it is that Mahrez takes the ball one trick too far when there are team-mates in better positions.
However, we didn’t have to wait long for the opening goal, scored by our Japanese striker, Okazaki. As the two goals were scored at the end away from the City fans, it was only watching Match of the Day later that I appreciated what a well-worked goal it was. Vardy, who had earlier been booked for a soft foul on Adrian, showed his pace and put a lovely pass through to Okazaki; the diminutive Japanese hit a thunderous volley which Adrian did well to stop, but he couldn’t prevent one of the smallest players on the pitch from heading into an empty net.
The second goal, if anything, was even better. Vardy again fed Okazaki, who in turn passed to Albrighton; he seemed to have all the time in the world to pass a couple of defenders and lay the ball back to Mahrez who hit a screamer from ten yards – or, if you read the online Daily Mail report, from ten years!
Okazaki was clattered by Jenkinson and needed treatment for a nasty looking head wound. Just before half-time Schmeichel was lucky not to be penalised for a block on Sakho, but for once the referee was on our side!
West Ham started the second half by substituting Oxford, the 16-year old, and it was obvious that they would come at City with all guns blazing. The Leicester players seemed to stand off too much and it was no surprise when West Ham pulled one back in the 55th minute.
It seemed an equaliser was inevitable but thankfully it never came. So it was back to the nail-biting situation all too familiar to long-suffering Leicester fans! Ranieri replaced Okazaki with Kante in the 62nd minute and De Laet by Benalouane four minutes later. Both had fought manfully and Okazaki could well have been feeling the effects of his earlier head injury.
The substitutes stiffened the defence, which had to counter wave after wave of attacks, the West Ham players roared on by a large partisan crowd. Even when the City players were able to get out of defence, there was only Vardy to try to move the ball forwards.
Danny Drinkwater should have scored from a lovely move towards the end of the game and Mahrez wasted a free kick in a good position – both of which would have calmed the fans’ nerves. The final substitution was Fuchs for Mahrez in the 82nd minute as the Leicester players saw the clock tick down to win a very hard-fought game.
In the time added on, Adrian came up for a West Ham corner and caught Vardy with a high kick into the solar plexus, which earned him a red card.
So we are top of the league (and, as I write, are still there pending the result of the Manchester City v Chelsea and Liverpool v Bournemouth games). I can’t do better than end by quoting Gary Lineker on MOTD: ‘Leicester City are top of the league and I never thought I would be saying that two Saturdays running’. Oh, and I’ve just seen a hoarding for Sky Sports with a very large image of Jamie Vardy – now I know we have arrived!
Leicester: Schmeichel, De Laet (Benalouane 66), Huth, Morgan, Schlupp, Mahrez (Fuchs 82), King, Drinkwater, Albrighton, Vardy, Okazaki (Kante 62). Subs not used: Hammond, Kramaric, Ulloa, Maddison
West Ham: Adrian, Jenkinson, Reid, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Oxford (Obiang 46), Noble, Kouyate (Lanzini 76), Payet, Zarate (Maiga 83), Sakho. Subs not used: Randolph, Nolan, Tomkins, Jarvis
The views expressed in this report are the opinions of the Trust member nominated to file the report only and do not represent the views of the Foxes Trust organisation