Leicester City 2-1 West Ham: Late King goal boosts Foxes' survival hopes

A late strike from substitute from Andy King was enough to give Leicester City a vital 2-1 win over West Ham United, to keep their Premier League survival hopes alive.

Leicester dominated from the off and took a well-deserved lead in the 12th minute through Esteban Cambiasso, and West Ham keeper Adrian’s penalty only prevented them for doubling their lead two minutes later. West Ham dominated from that point, with Cheikhou Kouyate and Kevin Nolan coming close before Kouyate equalised in the 32nd minute. Leicester resumed their dominance after the break with Jamie Vardy having three great chances in a two minute period before Kouayte rattled the post. Aaron Cresswell blocked substitute Andrej Kramaric’s shot off the line before King slammed his effort home to gain the three points.

Leicester City dominated the play in the early proceedings but had nothing to show for it until 12 minutes in when they took the lead. It was scrappy build-up with a wayward pass coming off the back of West Ham defender James Collins, the deflection teed it up beautifully for Cambiasso who hit a precise dipping volley into the bottom corner.

Two minutes later they had perfect opportunity to double their lead when Aaron Cresswell brought down Leonardo Ulloa in the area. Veteran David Nugent stepped up and hit a well-struck spot kick but Spanish stopper Adrian did brilliantly to palm it away to safety and keep his side in the game.

From there on West Ham began to dominate the proceedings with Nolan showing great trickery in the 16th minute on the by-line and flicked it towards Kouyate at the back post but it was cleared. A minute Stewart Downing and Diafra Sakho combined well with the latter pulling out a good save from Kasper Schmeichel at the near post. Skipper Nolan had a big opportunity in the 26th minute to get an equaliser when it seemed he had an easier header in the six-yard box but he managed to put it wide.

After their all the pressure West Ham managed to get the equaliser just after the half-hour mark, a great floated ball from Alex Song was chested down by Kouyate who then hit a brilliantly controlled volley into the side-netting.

The opening period of the second half wasn’t close to the first in terms of drama but Leicester did dominate with Robert Huth heading over a corner three minutes after the break. Jamie Vardy then whipped in a dangerous cross ten minutes later but no Leicester player could get on the end of it.

On the hour mark, Jeff Schlupp had an excellent opportunity to regain the lead for the foxes, advantage was played by referee Mark Clattenburg after Vardy was fouled the ball came to Nugent who played it to Schlupp, but his attempt meant for near post was well wide of the mark.

Vardy had three great chances in the space of two minutes to get Leicester second goal. The first came in 67th minute when he got past his marker to get on Ulloa’s header but his flicked headed effort scraped just wide. The second came when he was played through on goal but he sliced the effort wide, Ulloa again set up his third chance when he got the slightest of flicks on the ball but Adrian was out to block.

After all the pressure West Ham came within inches of taking the lead in 72nd minute, the ball towards the far post was headed down by Kouyate to Sakho the striker then teed it up for the goal scorer but his shot came off the near post.

Eight minutes from the end Carl Jenkinson had two great opportunities but Schmeichel was equal to them. Leicester broke down the field after that with substitute Kramaric found in free space in the area and he hit a good strike towards goal but Cresswell managed to block brilliantly on the line.

Stewart Downing managed to bring out another good save from the Danish stopper in the 84th minute, the English winger ran from the outside towards the goal his shot took a slight deflection but Schmeichel managed to get fingertips to it.

With four minutes left to play Leicester took a well-deserved lead, Kramaric dragged it Vardy who fluffed his shot but luckily King was there to flick it into the net sending the King Power Stadium into pandemonium in the process.

Vardy was put through one-on-one with Adrian in stoppage time but the Spaniard did enough to keep the shot out but Leicester had done enough to gain a crucial win.

Nigel Pearson will be delighted with the result as his side had been performing like that all season but their luck had let them down. It looked to have let them down again with that early penalty miss, but they managed to pull through and if they can continue that kind of form, they could pull off what seemed an impossible survival.

Sam Allardyce can’t really have any complaints about this result as his West Ham side were on the back foot for the majority of the game. However they did give their hosts a run for their money and it seems inevitable that they will have a comfortable top-half finish come May.