Both West Ham and Leicester are coming off of strong match-week threes pointing to one battle that will define this match-weeks scoreline.
West Ham built off of a new system and relative success away against Arsenal in match-week two. No win and no points to bring home thanks to a late strike by Eddie Nketiah, but the Hammers were the better team and looked much more confident in a new three-at-the-back system.
Fast forward to their match against Wolves, and this Irons team absolutely dominated Nuno’s Portuguese crew on the backs of a slew of impressive individual performances. The 4-0 scoreline flattered Wolves in the end, and while the scoring was impressive the clean sheet really means more than the output.
Leicester City also excelled in their third match of the season. A tough match on paper, away to Manchester City, turned out to be more of a training exercise for Brenden Rodgers’ team who shocked the Cityzens with a lopsided scoreline of 5-2.
The introduction of Timothy Castagne to the Leicester team has sparked their already impressive offence. He is meshing extremely well with Jamie Vardy and is proving the impact an expensive but well-vetted transfer can have on a team looking to push on.
For this match, Jamie Vardy has to be the key man to shut down and thus, for West Ham the key player is Angelo Ogbonna. The Italian centre-back who just received a call up to the Italian International team will be anchoring a back three with likely Issa Diop and Aaron Cresswell by his side. Having extra central help will aid him, but he will be the key cog in shutting down the reigning golden boot winner.
For Leicester, Vardy is currently on five goals this season from an opening match brace against West Brom, a blank against Burnley (but the Foxes did win), and a hattrick against Manchester City. His form hasn’t dropped from last season and a player with his speed and first time finishing will be difficult to lockdown.
Luckily for West Ham, Angelo Ogbonna has picked up where he left off, too. Just short of Hammer of the Year last season, Ogbonna is experiencing a renaissance in form since the departure of Manuel Pellegrini and is excelling even further in a back three.
If Vardy bests Ogbonna it could be a long match for the Hammers. If Ogbonna pockets the goalscorer as he did against Raul Jiminez last week, the boys in claret and blue could be set for another shockingly positive match. This is the decisive player vs. player battle to determine the game.