West Ham United face a crucial Premier League test this evening against Leicester City at the London Stadium, in David Moyes’ first home match in charge of the Hammers.
The Scottish boss was unable to lead to immediate improvements after replacing Slaven Bilic, losing his first game in charge 2-0 to Watford, and will hope for better fate this evening as the Hammers seek to rise out of the Premier League’s relegation zone.
The Foxes, West Ham’s opponents, have also been in questionable form this season but travel to East London on the back of improvements since appointing Claude Peul and were unfortunate to lose to league leaders Manchester City last week.
Leicester will therefore be high on confidence and BBC pundit Mark Lawrenson expects an even game this evening, backing a 1-1 draw in his latest predictions.
‘It was obvious to me that the West Ham players are very short on confidence. Even a draw against Leicester would be something to build on and I think the most important thing for Moyes in his first home game in charge is that they do not lose.’
‘The pace of Foxes striker Jamie Vardy will cause them problems, so I am expecting the Hammers to flood their midfield and make themselves difficult to break down.’
Yes, they will need to create chances too in front of their own fans but, as we saw on Sunday, I don’t think that will be a problem, and I don’t think Moyes needs to worry about the reaction he will get from the supporters either. Going by their chants and banners during the Watford game – and also from what the fans I spoke to afterwards had to say – they are unhappy with the board, not him.’
A draw wouldn’t be enough to take West Ham out of the relegation zone due to their negative goal difference.
