Straight A’s in West Ham Player Grades vs. Leicester

A tough run of fixtures is not defining West Ham’s season. After a shockingly lopsided win at Wolves, the Hammers come back and slam Leicester. Here are the player ratings!

Lukasz Fabianski – 10/10: He had very little to do, but Fabianski kept a clean sheet in back-to-back matches. He was good in claiming through balls from the Foxes and organized his wall of West Ham defenders well.

Vladimir Coufal – 8/10: What a debut for the Hammers’ new right-back! The Czech came as advertised with his non-stop motor and effectiveness at both ends of the pitch. He worked well with Bowen and his crossing was great! Very promising start.

Fabian Balbuena – 7/10: While he wasn’t bad, a lot of Leicester’s chances came through exposing Balbuena’s pace including a wonderfully worked goal that was overturned by VAR for offside. He was good in the air at the back and is serving fine in Issa Diop’s absence.

Angelo Ogbonna – 9/10: For the staredown at Cengiz Ünder for a dive in the box alone, Ogbonna impressed. But, on the ball, he was class and is clearly the centre-back candidate to move forward and snuff out attacks in the midfield. Another day at the office for Ogbonna who is peaking.

Aaron Cresswell – 9.5/10: Two assists from deep positions for Cresswell on the day, first to Antonio on a looping back-post cross and the second to find a wonderfully timed run by Fornals. He got caught out a few times but his chemistry with Masuaku bailed him out. Strong defensively today, as well; maybe his best performance for West Ham.

Arthur Masuaku – 8/10: It was a quiet day for Masuaku but that is a good thing. His dribbling and passing freed up Fornals to stay forward and also retained possession for West Ham in high-pressure situations. Solid play by the wing-back.

Declan Rice – 8/10: Quiet but effective, the calling card of a class defensive midfielder. Rice almost capped off a perfect game with a superb finish under the crossbar, but it deflected out. Rice was instrumental in this match, pulling the strings from deep and forcing turnover to spark the counter.

Tomas Soucek – 7.5/10: Like Rice, Soucek had a quiet game but was his usual self in the midfield. Some more agency in Leicester’s box would have benefited his rating, but he didn’t do much wrong. He was also Coufal’s favourite outlet!

Jarrod Bowen – 8.5/10: A well-deserved goal to cap off a strong performance, Jarrod Bowen is proving to be a real problem for teams down the right-wing. His goal was off of a Rice tackle and perfect Fornals pass who he has incredible chemistry with. Ran non stop while on the pitch.

Michail Antonio – 9/10: Last week he had Conor Coady in his pocket and this week it was Çağlar Söyüncü that was frustrated by the striker who is equally as strong as he is fast. He got his goal too but created so much for his team just off his running. A man in form bridging from last season.

Pablo Fornals – 10/10: To follow up his strong showing against Wolves, Fornals netted his goal and created Bowen’s to close out the match. When given the freedom to drift centrally Fornals is different class, and with a wingback behind him, he doesn’t have to track back as much. Man of the match performance for the playmaker.

Cameo appearances from Mark Noble and Sebastien Haller closed out the game as Antonio and Bowen were replaced. Alan Irvine, Stuart Pearce, and Kevin Nolan did a great job setting the team up today but David Moyes needs credit too as his formation change has inspired these massive results! What a match!