With Manchester United having drawn against Southampton and Spurs having lost to Wolves over the weekend, West Ham had a golden opportunity to solidify their own top four credentials against a struggling Leicester side. However a poor performance at the King Power Stadium saw David Moyes’ men squander that chance, and they could perhaps count themselves lucky to emerge with a point here thanks to Michael Dawson’s stoppage time header.
Here are our main talking points from this LCFC v WHUFC clash
First yellow card of the Premier League season for Cresswell
Believe it or not, but this was Aaron Cresswell’s first yellow card of the 2021/22 Premier League season- he has gone through virtually 2/3rd of the season without one. Cresswell is integral to this Hammers team- when he plays well, they also do well. The Leicester game though was a bit of a nightmare for him- he gave away a needless penalty before half time for the Foxes’ equaliser when they were looking short of ideas on attack, and allowed Ricardo to get the better of him for the goal that put the home side 2-1 ahead.
Soucek and Coufal poor
Maybe it’s fatigue from the Euros, but neither Tomas Soucek or Vladimir Coufal have really hit the heights of last season. Both appear to be pale shadows of themselves, and it’s telling that Moyes, who generally doesn’t tinker much, opted to replace Coufal with Ryan Fredericks as his first substitution of this game. The Czech right back struggled against Harvey Barnes, with Youri Tielemans’ diagonal balls to the latter causing all sorts of problems for West Ham after the interval. Moyes even asked Pablo Fornals and Jarrod Bowen to switch flanks in his attempt to contain Barnes.
Zouma late withdrawal
Kurt Zouma was a late withdrawal for this game, meaning a start for young French centre back Issa Diop. He also got an assist to his name, with his long ball setting up Bowen for the game’s opener.
Attacking subs a tad too late?
Moyes’ attacking substitutions- Said Benrahma in particular, brought some much needed energy to the game. It eventually culminated in Leicester making a defensive sub- Vestergaard for Tielemans, but West Ham finally got their equaliser in stoppage time through Michael Dawson from a corner.
However the Algerian and fellow sub Nikola Vlasic got only 10 minutes of game time- could they have been introduced earlier? The weariness of the starting players on the pitch and the substitutes’ impact certainly suggested so.
West Ham don’t lose often after taking the lead
Another interesting stat, but West Ham have formed a habit of sorts to not lose in the Premier League this season if they score first. The only game which they’ve lost in 21/22 in the league after scoring first was the home one against Man Utd (with Lingard scoring the winner for the Red Devils).
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