There are plenty of intriguing storylines for West Ham heading into this week’s match. But in an unforgiving league where there are no moral victories, West Ham must have the intention to take at least a point from this win and consider themselves lucky if they can somehow nick the full 3 again vs Leicester City away.
The first order of business for the Hammers is to find a way to slow down the Foxes’ James Maddison who has created more chances in the PL (18) than any other player this season. While Issa Diop, Fabian Balbuena, and Lukasz Fabianski have all been stellar in defense, it’s the midfield that is going to have to deal with Maddison. That’s where Declan Rice comes in, with support from Mark Noble.
Next, West Ham must start converting their own chances if they expect to move up the table, especially against mid to lower half teams. No time like the present to start getting more clinical in finishing, and once and for all get out of another winter-long relegation battle.
Leicester comes into this match on a two-game losing streak, just like West Ham, and in a similar position to the Hammers statistically. The main difference between these clubs, and stop me, stop me, stop me if you think that you’ve heard this one before…the Foxes have converted their chances, West Ham has not. So it’s Leicester with two more wins and 6 more points in the table.
In fact, no club has lost more points from winning positions thus far than the Hammers. It seems that when West Ham have scored, it has been early and they have been unable to hold on to the lead much like the Bournemouth match.
The Irons are going to have to start picking up points and will have to do it, of course, without injured winger Andiry Yarmelenko who will likely be out for the remainder of the season following achilles surgery earlier in the week. Manuel Pellegrini has said that he expects Robert Snodgrass to get the start in his place.
What formation the Gaffer employs and who else plays in midfield is also a question for this week. He could employee two strikers inserting Chicharito into the XI alongside Marko Arnautovic and have Rice, Noble, Anderson, and Snodgrass as a four-man midfield.
What to make of the back four? Or at least the left-back of the back four seeing as how Cresswell failed to impress with Masuaku out last week. Even with his competition so poor, Masuaku has room to improve himself.
Last May at King Power, West Ham United came away with a 2-0 win over Leicester City that was put away on a laser shot from Mark Noble. Things aren’t going that well right now for West Ham who need a result and points from this one, despite their mounting injury list. If Pellegrini can assess the opposition, pick his team, pick his formation, and the players are up for it, West Ham can nab all three points.