The eventful match against Leicester City saw manager Manuel Pellegrini get sacked as a result of the poor effort. Here’s how the match happened against a weakened Foxes team.
With two matches in three days for both Leicester City and West Ham changes were made on a wholesale level by both managers. For Brenden Rodgers, nine first-team players were absent from the starting XI leaving just Kasper Schmeichel and Johnny Evans as the only regular players to start this match.
For Manuel Pellegrini, Issa Diop replaced Angelo Ogbonna who was dropped entirely from the team due to resting and Winston Reid acted as center-back cover on the bench, Felipe Anderson drew back in, Arthur Masuaku and Ryan Fredericks also started, and Michail Antonio was dropped while Carlos Sanchez made a surprising start in central midfield for Mark Noble.
As imagined, the Hammers struggled out of the gate in this match with so many bench players entering the fray. Most notable was Sanchez, who looked like he won a contest to be on a Premier League pitch. Giveaway after giveaway saw the Leicester front three in on goal on multiple occasions, contributing to the six saves for returnee Lukasz Fabianski.
In the 40th minute, Leicester would break the deadlock by way of a close-range Kelechi Iheanacho header. A terrible clearance that should have been left by Masuaku was recovered and sent back post and Ayoze Perez‘s squaring header found the striker unmarked who made no mistake. It was shambolic defending, as per usual, and the Leicester reserves took advantage.
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The leveling goal would come just five minutes later, right before the first half ended. Felipe Anderson’s run was picked up and fed into by Ryan Fredericks. After cutting deeper into the 16-yard box, Anderson cut the ball back across the box perfectly and Pablo Fornals slammed home his first Premier League goal. Wonderful play by both involved and a lovely crossed hammers celebration was used by the goal scorer.
The wheels came off in the second half, with the 56th-minute sub of Sebastien Haller for Michail Antonio. This was not the correct decision and a chorus of boos reigned down over Pellegrini for making this decision. It appeared he was defending a draw against a vulnerable team and that is never okay at home.
As expected, Leicester City would go up 2-1 through a Demari Gray goal. Fredericks was caught up the pitch and Sanchez, who was covering him, couldn’t be asked to run so Gray was in alone and slotted the ball home. This was redemption for the young winger who had a penalty stopped early in the first half for a Fabianski tackle.
Robert Snodgrass and Albian Ajeti would come on as substitutes, but there was no game plan from the manager. The commentators pointed it out well, the Hammers needed offense but had no idea how to set up or push for the leveling goal. The introduction of James Maddison and Wilfred Ndidi off the bench sealed the win for Leicester and sealed the sack for Pellegrini. So long, Manuel. May your tenure have no more lasting effects on this season and this team.