Eadie Seals Upton Park Triumph For Flying Foxes
While the east London outfit hold a historical advantage over the Foxes, tasting victory in 53 of those clashes, City have lost just two of their last 13 meetings with the three-time FA Cup winners.
Ahead of this Sunday's visit to the capital, LCFC.com rolls the clock back to the turn of the new millennium, when Peter Taylor secured the first win of his topsy-turvy spell in charge at Filbert Street.
West Ham United 0 Leicester City 1
Wednesday 23 August, 2000
Upton Park
Premier League
Darren Eadie's well-taken 53rd-minute strike sealed a slender 1-0 victory for Leicester City over West Ham United in both sides' second outings of the 2000/01 Premier League season.
Boasting a side including Rio Ferdinand, Michael Carrick, Frédéric Kanouté and Paolo Di Canio, much was expected of Harry Redknapp's Hammers following a ninth-placed finish a year earlier.
While City had played out a 0-0 stalemate with Aston Villa on the opening day, West Ham were beaten 4-2 by Chelsea, and they were in real danger of losing two in a row when Igor Štimac was dismissed for a second yellow card during the first half.
Matt Elliott missed with a header after Steve Guppy's inventive cross, while Di Canio was denied by Tim Flowers in the Foxes' goal. Davor Šuker was a threat for West Ham, too, but he and his team-mates found Flowers in fine form for the visitors.
Ferdinand was the next Hammers star to be frustrated as his header, applied to Kanouté's cross, was tipped away by Flowers, before Štimac's late challenge on Robbie Savage saw the Croat dismissed by referee Rob Styles before half-time.
With a numerical advantage, Leicester were able to play with more space in the second period and, when Shaka Hislop failed to seize upon a loose ball, there was Eadie to riffle home his first goal for the Club after a £3M move from Norwich City.
While the introduction of youngster Joe Cole complicated matters for the Foxes, Taylor's men could have been 2-0 up when new £5M signing Ade Akinbiyi applied a finish to Andy Impey's cross, but the flag was raised for offside.
By the end of September, Leicester City would be top of the Premier League.
City: Flowers; Rowett, Elliott (c), Taggart, Impey; Lennon, R. Savage, Izzet; Eadie (Cottee 82'), Guppy, Akinbiyi.
Subs not used: Royce, Gilchrist, Oakes, Walsh.
Goal: Eadie 53'.
Attendance: 25,195.