West Ham Secure A Win On Filbert Way
Claude Puel made five changes to his starting XI, as Yohan Benalouane made his first Premier League appearance of the season, Vicente Iborra returned to action following a hamstring injury and Academy graduate Hamza Choudhury made a second straight start in England's top flight.
The Hammers started the clash with real intent as Manuel Lanzini had a shot blocked before Pablo Zabaleta headed wide inside the opening 15 minutes.
City responded well as Portugal international midfielder Adrien Silva had a shot blocked – the loose ball nearly fell to Jamie Vardy, but West Ham stopper Adrian was there to collect.
At the other end, Ben Hamer did brilliantly to race out and block Marko Arnautović’s effort at the front post on the half-hour mark.
Shortly after, Arnautović sent a fine volley crashing onto the crossbar before turning provider just moments later to set up Mario, who hooked home from close range to open the scoring.
Early on in the second period, Vardy was denied a goalscoring opportunity after Aaron Cresswell handled the ball on the edge of the area, but the left back remained on the pitch after being shown a yellow card.
With 60 minutes on the clock, the introduction of Kelechi Iheanacho and Demarai Gray provided fresh legs going forward.
However, David Moyes’ men doubled their advantage four minutes later as Noble fired a sensational volley into the bottom corner, giving Hamer no chance.
Benalouane came close to pulling one back late on for City, but Adrian was on hand to make a decent stop to prevent the Tunisia international from finding the back of the net.
Major moment
Just as the Foxes were beginning to gain a foothold in the game, the Hammers doubled their lead following a stunning first-time effort from Mark Noble.
That proved to be a huge blow for Claude Puel, who just moments earlier had introduced attackers Demarai Gray and Kelechi Iheanacho in an attempt to find an equaliser.
Who impressed?
On Saturday afternoon, Harry Maguire was on hand to make several blocks before moving into a more advanced role in the second period.
He has been a consistent member of the City squad this term and was deservedly named Player of the Season and Players’ Player of the Season earlier this week.
Where do we stand?
For now, the Foxes remain ninth in the Premier League table with two 2017/18 fixtures to come. They sit three points behind Everton and three points above Newcastle United.
Coming up…
Leicester City are back at King Power Stadium on Wednesday evening, when they face Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal in the Premier League.