West Ham United made it back-to-back Premier League wins by seeing off struggling Leicester City 2-0 at the London Stadium on Thursday.
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Birthday boy Tomas Soucek provided the breakthrough for the Hammers 21 minutes in, and they did not look back from there as they claimed consecutive top-flight victories for the first time since March 2024, building neatly on their hard-fought victory at Arsenal.
Jarrod Bowen played a huge part in West Ham’s second just before half-time, with his low finish deflecting in off Jannik Vestergaard for an own goal.
Despite their lowly position, Leicester failed to offer much in the way of a response after the break.
West Ham leapfrog Everton into 15th, level on points with Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United. Leicester, on the back of a fourth straight league defeat, are in 19th, five points from safety.
| Position Pos | Club | Played Pl | GD | Points Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 |
West Ham
WHU
|
27 | -15 | 33 |
| 16 |
Everton
EVE
|
27 | -4 | 32 |
| 17 |
Wolves
WOL
|
27 | -19 | 22 |
| 18 |
Ipswich
IPS
|
27 | -31 | 17 |
| 19 |
Leicester
LEI
|
27 | -36 | 17 |
| 20 |
Southampton
SOU
|
27 | -46 | 9 |
How the match unfolded
Wilfred Ndidi had the first meaningful attempt of the night when he tested Alphonse Areola – celebrating his 32nd birthday – though West Ham swiftly got in the ascendancy and took the lead midway through the first half.
Aaron Cresswell’s dangerous cross was flicked into the path of Mohammed Kudus, whose close-range effort was parried by Mads Hermansen, but Soucek was on hand to tuck in the rebound.
Leicester’s defensive frailties were laid bare once again in the 43rd minute. James Ward-Prowse’s corner dropped loose at the near post, and Bowen pounced to get a shot off, with Vestergaard only able to unwittingly turn it in.
Substitute Stephy Mavididi produced a promising moment for the Foxes in the 69th minute, but Emerson’s header snuffed out the danger from the winger’s cross, and that was the closest Leicester came, with Harry Winks’ superb block at the other end preventing Evan Ferguson from adding a third West Ham goal.
Home fortunes change for the Hammers
West Ham had lost their previous two Premier League home matches, beaten by Crystal Palace and Brentford. Earlier in the season, they had already suffered three straight home defeats under former head coach Julen Lopetegui, so Graham Potter would have been keen to ensure he did not match his predecessor.
But the Hammers’ home fortunes took a welcome turn as they comfortably saw off Leicester.
On his 30th birthday, Soucek fired the hosts in front. It was a largely comfortable night for the midfielder, who dictated play from midfield with little resistance.
Verstergaard’s own goal, combined with Leicester’s slow build-up put West Ham in control and Potter – who stuck with the 3-5-2 formation he played against Arsenal last time out – will now feel he is truly up and running as West Ham boss.
Potter’s side have the luxury of a break before they gear up to face Newcastle United on 10 March, with matches against Everton and Wolverhampton Wanderers to follow before some tough fixtures against AFC Bournemouth and Liverpool in April.
Leicester’s defence continues to leak
Leicester picked up what seemed like a vital 3-1 win over West Ham in the reverse fixture back in December in Ruud van Nistelrooy’s first match in charge, but the Foxes were devoid of energy and ideas this time around.
Soucek’s opener ensured that Leicester remained the only Premier League side without an away clean sheet this season. The Foxes have now shipped 32 goals across their 12 matches on the road – three months into Van Nistelrooy’s tenure, their defensive frailties are far from fixed, and may actually be getting worse.
A series of errors cost Leicester heavily last week, a chaotic 15-minute spell in the first half paving the way for Brentford’s 4-0 rout at King Power Stadium.
There was little sign of a response here as a serious lack of proactive defending left the Hammers’ forwards, particularly Bowen and Kudus, with plenty of space. Leicester were simply too passive at the back again, their failure to clear inside the six-yard box twice leading to goals.
Van Nistelrooy will certainly be keen to get back on track. With Chelsea, Manchester United, Manchester City, Newcastle, Brighton & Hove Albion and Liverpool all to come, Leicester are staring at a brutal run of fixtures that could make or break their season.
Club reports
West Ham report | Leicester report
What the managers said
Graham Potter: "Feels good. It's not easy. The turnaround from the Arsenal game was not that long. Two efforts in five days is big for us. Two clean sheets, six points, delighted."
Ruud van Nistelrooy: "The goals you concede are easy goals. It's a reflection of how we played in the first half. If you see the difference in the first and the second half, how we as a team moved forward to press the opponent, play with urgency after winning duels, in the first half we were waiting way too much. We have to put the opponent under pressure in the right way."
Next PL fixtures
Key facts
There have been three goals scored by West Ham players on their birthday in the Premier League with Soucek scoring two of them (v Wolves in 2022 and tonight). Ricardo Vaz Te bagged against QPR in October 2012.
Soucek (on his 27th birthday v Wolves in 2022 and on his 30th tonight against Leicester) is one of just two players in Premier League history to score a goal on his birthday in two different years. The other was Teddy Sheringham (28th birthday v Norwich in April 1994 and 29th birthday v Southampton in April 1995).
Leicester have lost 11 of their last 12 Premier League matches (W1), while in his 14 games in charge, Van Nistelrooy has picked up just seven points, three fewer than previous Foxes boss Steve Cooper managed this season (10 in 12 matches).
Leicester’s Jannik Vestergaard is just the third player to score an own-goal on his 100th Premier League appearance, after Jonathan Walters for Stoke v Chelsea in January 2013 and Gareth McAuley for West Brom v Stoke in May 2014.
