Leicester 4 West Ham 1: Jamie Vardy injury blow as Barnes, Pereira and Perez strike
THE CURSE of the England striker hit Leicester – but they still had the firepower to overcome their mini blip. Jamie Vardy followed Harry Kane, Marcus Rashford and Tammy Abraham by suffering an injury for their club team. Unlike the other players, England boss Gareth Southgate will not be worried by Vardy’s issue, which appeared […]
THE CURSE of the England striker hit Leicester – but they still had the firepower to overcome their mini blip.
Jamie Vardy followed Harry Kane, Marcus Rashford and Tammy Abraham by suffering an injury for their club team.
Unlike the other players, England boss Gareth Southgate will not be worried by Vardy’s issue, which appeared to be a hamstring issue, as he is no longer an international player.
Yet Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers will not be so relaxed about the situation and will hope it is not serious.
Even so, after back-to-back Premier League defeat, Rodgers team – helped by an outstanding performance from Harvey Barnes – watched his side deliver a comfortable win apart from a dodgy patch at the start of the second half.
Equally, this was a truly awful performance from David Moyes’ side who showed a bit of fight after pulling a goal back following a soft penalty.
This tame, at times spineless performance will have rung some alarm bells for the new manager who has seen an improvement in the defending. There is still an awful amount of work to be done if West Ham are to pull away from the bottom.
Leicester, meanwhile, despite the departure of Vardy, rediscovered their confidence and will sleepwalk their way to the Champions League.
In many respects, they can focus on the Cups and after Saturday’s game with Brentford, they have the semi-final second leg of the Carabao Cup against Aston Villa.
Naturally, Leicester need Vardy back but the form of Barnes is a massive plus and a few more performances like this will put him right in the frame for a senior England call-up.
At times, West Ham could not get near him and he scored the first and then played a part in the second.
Barnes had been on a decent run of goals with two from his previous three games while this latest one could not have been easier.
He used the outside of his boot to release Ricardo who was given too much room and while he clipped the ball past keeper Darren Randolph, Barnes surged forward to hammer the ball over the line just to make sure.
There was a fear he could have been marginally offside but for once, VAR was surprisingly quick to rule that the goal would stand.
Rodgers had to deliver a reshuffle when Nampalys Mendy hobbled off after falling awkwardly but the crowd did not mind as they were able to give Wilfred Ndidi a warm welcome.
To the amazement of his manager, Ndidi has recovered in super-fast time following a knee operation just a couple of weeks ago.
Yet the home fans were not so optimistic about the next substitution before half-time as Kelechi Iheanacho replaced Vardy.
Vardy had gone down to the floor feeling a twinge in his hamstring after clearing the ball. Following initial treatment, he sprinted back into action but returned to the floor a minute later because he was feeling such discomfort.
Yet despite these two changes, credit to Leicester for still pressing and testing West Ham.
Caglar Soyuncu, such an impressive player at the back, won everything against Seb Haller.
He showed his power by heading the ball forward, Barnes was given far too much time down the left and his hopeful pass to no-one in particular was met by Ricardo. He charged towards the ball and delivered a decent finish past an unsighted Randolph.
West Ham were dismal so it was no surprise they made some changes at half-time, replacing Arthur Masuaku and Robert Snodgrass for Pablo Forbals and Michail Antonio
And Ndidi then gave the visitors a helping hand by fouling Seb Haller with the decision being given by VAR.
You had to have some sympathy for Ndidi and after Mark Noble sent Kasper Schmeichel the wrong way, West Ham had a decent spell and Antonio was a real handful.
But Rodgers kept urging the team to increase their tempo and the players started to listen.
James Maddison, although not having one of his best nights, started to get more involved in the match, saw more of the ball and also forced an outstanding fingertip save from Randolph.
And the nerves were eased when Angelo Ogbonna bundled over Iheanacho and Perez, like Noble, sent the keeper the wrong way.
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Perez’s finest moment came at the end as he squeezed the ball through the legs of Ogbonna and into the corner after being fed the ball by Iheanacho.
It was a terrible team effort and showed you what Leicester are capable of, even without Vardy.