West Ham produced a near-flawless away performance as they handed Leicester City their first loss of the 2020/21 Premier League season. The Foxes, coming off a fine 5-2 win at the Etihad against Man City last weekend, were aiming to win the opening four games of a top flight season for the first time in their history, but were outclassed by the visitors at the King Power Stadium.
Here are our talking points from the game.
No shot on target for Leicester: Bizarre as it may sound, Leicester, who had put five past Pep Guardiola’s City in Round 3, failed to register even a single shot on target in this game. It’s only the third time the Foxes have failed to do at home in the modern Premier League era.
Brendan Rodgers’ men had nearly 70% of possession and 670 passes to the Hammers’ 291, but could simply not find a way through as the visitors defended resolutely. Harvey Barnes did manage to find the back of the net in second half stoppage time (a very nice team goal btw), but it was reversed by VAR.
For a team that’s been defensively vulnerable, especially on the road, this was a fine, fine performance from West Ham and a well deserved clean sheet for Lukasz Fabianski.
Vladimir Coufal impressive on debut: The new Czech signing made his debut at right back in place of the injured Ryan Fredericks and put in a very assured performance here. Going up against Harvey Barnes away from home isn’t easy by any stretch of imagination, but Coufal set the tone for the game when he won an early 5th minute free kick against the Leicester winger.
In the 16th minute, he put in a nice tackle to stop Jamie Vardy in his tracks after the latter had turned Angelo Ogbonna inside out, and in the 22nd minute, he went over to the other side to stop a Castagne cross that could’ve easily resulted in a Leicester goal.
Coufal was the recipient of a strong challenge from Vardy in the 28th minute, and was also carded when he tugged on to Barnes’ shorts later in the game, but all things considered, it was a solid debut. Fellow Czech team mate Tomas Soucek had an excellent game in the middle of the park as well.
Another away goal for Antonio: This was another strong performance from Michail Antonio on the road. He effectively created the opening goal- first earning a free kick near the half way line, then taking it quickly and giving to Cresswell in space and finally heading home the latter’s cross on the far post.
There were a couple of opportunities on the counter where he could’ve done better, especially in the second half, but he gave Soyuncu and Evans, the former in particular, a real tough time.
A goal and an assist for Pablo Fornals: The Spanish medio’s first touch for his goal was absolutely delightful, and so was the finish as Soyuncu raced back in a desperate attempt to stop him. The timing of Fornals’ run for the Cresswell long hoick was just perfect, and Leicester’s defenders, who had kept a high line, were caught napping.
Also provided the assist for Jarrod Bowen’s third- a delightful counter attacking move from the back started by Declan Rice.
Rice very nearly scores a great solo goal: Speaking of Rice, the medio nearly scored one of the goals of the season as he collected the ball from inside his own half and galloped into the opposition box. With Evans man marking Antonio, Rice had to take the shot on his own. His powerful effort beat Schmeichel, but rebounded off the underside of the crossbar.
Leicester constantly tried to find the killer pass in the centre of the park that would break the West Ham wall but were simply not able to despite their best efforts. Rice and Soucek put in quite a shift, and got the better of Tielemans and Mendy.
A 7-0 result from two games against Wolves and Leicester is virtually the stuff of dreams for Hammers fans, and they’ll be hoping that this form can be sustained after the international break as well.
One of those rare days where everyone on the team played close to their full potential.
The problem though, is that it doesn’t happen often!