Leicester 2 West Ham 2: Hammers salvage last-gasp point through controversial Dawson strike to keep top-four hopes alive
LEICESTER’S corner curse struck again as Craig Dawson’s last minute leveller robbed the Foxes of a much-needed home win on his 50th appearance for the Irons. It was a sickening Hammer blow as Dawson forced Jarrod Bowen’s cross beyond Kasper Schmeichel. And though the Foxes furiously claimed handball, VAR confirmed the ball had struck Dawson’s […]
LEICESTER’S corner curse struck again as Craig Dawson’s last minute leveller robbed the Foxes of a much-needed home win on his 50th appearance for the Irons.
It was a sickening Hammer blow as Dawson forced Jarrod Bowen’s cross beyond Kasper Schmeichel.
And though the Foxes furiously claimed handball, VAR confirmed the ball had struck Dawson’s upper arm – which is legal under the revised T-shirt guidelines.
“I was slightly worried when VAR looked at it, but it counted,” said Dawson.
“We work on set pieces a lot, it was a great ball and luckily I put it in.”
David Moyes left with one point in the bag to stay fourth as Brendan Rodgers cursed his side’s 11th Premier goal of the season conceded from a corner – and 10th headed goal conceded in all competitions.
Moyes has now gone four unbeaten against Rodgers – a record bettered only by Sir Alex Ferguson and Carlo Ancelotti.
Yet his afternoon started badly.
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West Ham’s boss has suffered enough disruption and unwanted scrutiny over Kurt Zouma‘s deplorable behaviour.
Yet there was another unexpected twist here to wreak havoc with his pre-match plans.
Having named Zouma in his starting line-up, the French defender went out for his pre-match warm-up to prepare for his first away match since his cat-kicking shame.
He knocked the ball about and predictably received dogs abuse – for want of a better phrase – from Foxes fans.
Then came something none of us expected as this sorry tale took another bizarre turn.
Zouma called for a physio and disappeared down the tunnel before West Ham confirmed his place would now be taken by Issa Diop.
The official explanation was that the Frenchman had been feeling sick all day and as kick-off time loomed, he felt too poorly to participate.
The irony of Zouma feeling sick wasn’t lost on many who had been left feeling decidedly queasy by his repulsive actions.
As the game got underway Zouma was being chauffeured back to London, as the negative narrative surrounding West Ham’s handling of cat-gate refused to abate.
Rather than being disrupted by such a late change, the Hammers players looked as if they had a huge weight lifted from their shoulders.
Fittingly, it was the man drafted in at the 11th hour who set up their 10th minute opener.
It was a goal which shone a spotlight on exactly why Rodgers is is feeling the heat as his brittle defence snapped at the merest hint of trouble.
Diop sent a booming ball forward, more in hope than expectation.
Caglar Soyuncu stepped up to try and spring an offside trap but James Justin and Daniel Amartey clearly didn’t get the memo.
Because Jarrod Bowen timed his run to perfection, sprinting clear of the thinnest of blue lines before expertly sending a left-foot half-volley into the corner of Kasper Schmeichel’s net.
It was another reminder to Gareth Southgate as West Ham’s in form frontman plundered his fifth goal in his last five Premier games.
Only Mo Salah (25) has been directly involved in more Premier League goals this season than Bowen’s 15 (8 goals, 7 assists).
The 25-year-old is the Prem’s highest scorer since the turn of the year with five goals to his name – and it’s seven from seven in all competitions.
Take nothing away from the man of the moment biut Bowen was helped by some more criminal Leicester defending.
Rodgers had warned his players they were fighting for their careers – yet they had been floored here in round one.
Worse followed when Ricardo Pereira was booked for a foul on Aaron Cresswell before comeback man James Justin worryingly went off clutching his hamstring and was replaced by Luke Thomas.
However the Foxes flinally flickered into life when Youri Tielemans flashed a shot just wide after 38 minutes.
It was off target, as was a Harvey Barnes effort moments later, but at last this niggly stop-start game was sparking to life.
But it was West Ham’s unfortunate left-back Cresswell who handed Leicester their lifeline just before half-time.
Actually make that an elbow as that’s the part of his arm the defender made contact with to divert James Maddison’s inswinging corner.
Referee Michael Oliver spotted the infringement and Youri Tielemans handled a high-pressure moment to expertly beat Lukasz Fabianski to his right.
It was the fifth penalty the Belgian had scored for the Fixes and all of them had gone to the same side.
Having snubbed the offer of a new contract Tielemans then cupped his hands in a love heart gesture to Foxes fans – to confuse them even further!
Cresswell then fluffed his lines again, when he shanked a Declan Rice cutback with the goal at his mercy.
Maddison slashed a shot over before Soyuncu brilliantly blocked Bowen after the restart.
However Leicester had taken the game by the scruff of the neck and came within a fraction of taking the lead when Patson Daka slid in but just failed to finish off Barnes’ flashing low cross.
West Ham’s relief was short-lived as Leicester hit the front just before the hour.
Tielemans toyed with the Hammers with a searching crossfield ball to Barnes who cushioned it off his chest before crossing to the back post.
And Ricardo Pereira powered above Cresswell to head past Fabianski for his first goal since January 2020 – which also came against the Hammers.
Cresswell and Rice were booked as the Hammers day darkened and Maddison came close to adding a third with a flashing drive before Tielemans just failed to get on the end of a cute Barnes toe flip pass.
Moyes sent on fredericks for Coufal, then Vlasic and Benrahma for Fornals and Lanzini.
And it paid off when they snatched a late leveller, moments after Rodgers had swapped Tielamans for giant defender Jannick Vestergaard to try and shore up his defence.
Naturally, the Foxes then conceded from another corner as Dawson rose to bundle home a Jarrod Bowen inswinger.
Leicester were adamant the defender had used an arm but VAR ruled it bounced in off his bicep in line with the new T-shirt guidelines.
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