West Ham 0-2 Leicester: 3 things FoL learned

Leicester City marched their proud form into a World Cup break feeling good about life. No longer is the talk about relegation, it is about how far up the table the Foxes can climb. Here are three things to take from the win in East London.

Hard to Beat

Keeping compact and tight has been a theme for several games now, with West Ham’s attackers having to work much harder to breach the Foxes‘ back line. A confident and assured Danny Ward is rewarding Brendan Rodgers’ patience and led by the eponymous hero in the back four, Wout Faes, they seemed assured throughout holding a strong line that featured an evolving Daniel Amartey growing in confidence. The partnership is now so strong that even club captain Jonny Evans was unable to budge the Northern Irishman’s thinking.

The club had the unfortunate loss of James Justin to injury to cope with following the midweek win over Newport County. Luke Thomas stepped into the fray with a largely impressive performance that was controlled and professional, softening the blow of losing the ‘Luton Cafu’. The central midfield was quick in transitions and offered defensive solidity whilst managing the game, with an emphasis on counter-attacking that helped them penetrate the hammers’ shaky backline with two clinically taken goals from James Maddison and Harvey Barnes. They may have even had more if Youri Tielemans converted his penalty. Perhaps the club should suggest replacing penalties with a ‘free volley’ from 30 yards outside the goal as Tielemans has no problem burying his chances in those memorable situations.

This all serves the point that LCFC has gone from being a side that would crumble in games, to one that has more grit and nous in its armoury. Rodgers may have cracked a nut that he has struggled with since joining the club, make no mistake, this form is similar to early 2019/2020 days.