VAR cannot come soon enough, a left footed assist from Nobes and more- Talking Points from West Ham 2-2 Leicester

West Ham’s penultimate home game of the 2018/19 Premier League season saw Manuel Pellegrini’s side draw 2-2 with Leicester. In front of their second biggest crowd of the season, the Hammers took the lead twice, only for the Foxes to come from behind on both occasions and take home a point.

Here are our talking points from the game

VAR cannot come soon enough: If it was Felipe Anderson’s disallowed goal against Manchester United last week, this time it was Lucas Perez’s turn. Just before Harvey Barnes’ equaliser, Perez had the ball in the back of the net, but 3-1 remained 2-1 as the linesman had his flag up. Both decisions that would’ve gone in West Ham’s favour with VAR present and given how the games panned out, potentially six points to Pellegrini’s men instead of the single they eventually had to be content with. [Read more…]

Pedro Obiang to miss West Ham’s clash against Leicester, says Manuel Pellegrini

West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini has indicated that Saturday evening’s game against Leicester will come too early for injured midfielder Pedro Obiang. The Spaniard missed last weekend’s home defeat against Spurs, which forced the Chilean gaffer to play a midfield trio of Declan Rice, Mark Noble and Robert Snodgrass against the Lilywhites.

With Andriy Yarmolenko out for six months following his Achilles rupture, Pellegrini would’ve been hoping for some good news on the Obiang front, but the 26 year old medio may now see action only in the midweek Cup game against Spurs.

Here is what Pellegrini had to say about Obiang’s injury at the pre match press conference. [Read more…]

Pundit Predictions- How will West Ham fare against Leicester this weekend?

After a disappointing home loss to Tottenham Hotspur- their sixth straight winless game at home under Martin Atkinson, West Ham’s final league assignment this month sees them travel to the King Power Stadium to take on Leicester. Neither side has won a league game this month, but the ref for this fixture, Michael Oliver, was the man with the whistle when the Hammers beat Manchester United at home. Will Manuel Pellegrini’s side snap their winless streak and beat the Foxes? [Read more…]

Michael Oliver appointed as referee for Leicester- West Ham clash- Can Hammers reproduce Man Utd heroics

West Ham’s last game saw their winless run at home under Martin Atkinson extend to six games, but they will be hopeful of a better result under the referee appointed for their next clash away at the King Power Stadium. The Premier League have awarded Michael Oliver this clash- the same person who was in the middle when the Hammers produced their famous 3-1 upset over Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United a few weeks ago.

The Hammers were also victorious on their last visit to the King Power, winning 2-0 thanks to goals from Noble and Inter loanee Joao Mario. [Read more…]

West Ham 2-3 Leicester

Prior to this game, Leicester hadn’t won a single game on the road this Premier League season. Of course, they had to do it at West Ham, they just had to.

Another disappointing game from West Ham- they were slow off the blocks (the lesser we speak of the defence the better), and had plenty of chances to draw or even win the game, but eventually finished on the wrong side of a 3-2 scoreline and gave Craig Shakespeare the record of being the first Leicester manager to start his Premier League campaign with three straight wins [Read more…]