Leicester handed Tomas Soucek a memorable birthday gift as they suffered their fifth defeat in a row.
Soucek, celebrating his 30th birthday, scored for West Ham on his special day for the second time.
Soucek likely enjoyed one of his easiest birthdays, thanks to Leicester’s poor performance.
Poor defending allowed the West Ham midfielder to score the opening goal, and then Jannick Vestergaard, unfortunately, scored an own goal for the second.
Ruud van Nistelrooy’s team is now five points away from safety, but the situation looks even more dire when watching them play.
This was a much-needed home victory for Graham Potter.
The new West Ham manager will have gained significant credit after their impressive win against Arsenal.
However, winning over the home fans at the London Stadium is crucial for his long-term success.
Keeping both the club owners and the fans satisfied is important at any club.
But at West Ham, where the management can be quite vocal and the stadium atmosphere can be subdued, it’s a particularly important challenge.
More victories like this will be very helpful.
West Ham didn’t play particularly attacking football in the first half, but they didn’t need to.
Apart from a weak shot from Wilfried Ndidi, Leicester offered little in attack but were very generous in defense.
West Ham benefited from poor defending twice to take a rare first-half lead at home.
Soucek scored from close range after Mohammed Kudus’ shot from Aaron Cresswell’s cross was pushed into his path.
Leicester had multiple opportunities to clear the ball before Cresswell’s cross, but Vestergaard let it pass him.
Potter’s team could have pushed harder for more goals then but were slightly too passive to quickly take complete control.
Poor Defense Leads to West Ham’s Second Goal
Another instance of poor defensive play led to West Ham’s second goal.
Jamie Vardy managed to head the ball away at the near post from a corner, but Jarrod Bowen quickly took it away unchallenged.
Bowen had time to turn and shoot, and his shot hit Vestergaard and went into the net.
Leicester might find some comfort in the fact that Southampton are also having a very poor season, which takes some attention away from their own struggles.
Almost Scored a Third Goal
Leicester’s away fans showed gallows humor, with many probably already looking forward to the Championship next season.
Potter’s evening almost ended perfectly when Bowen set up January signing Evan Ferguson, who came on as a substitute.
The Irishman is still waiting for his first goal since joining from Brighton and hesitated on the ball, allowing his weak shot to be blocked by Wout Faes.
West Ham should have won by a larger margin, which would have significantly boosted their confidence.
Instead, they played it safe and allowed Leicester to put in some harmless crosses.
However, Potter will know that improvement takes time and will be happy to see West Ham moving in the right direction, winning two games in a row for the first time in almost a year.
Marcus Bellamy