Yesterday afternoon, West Ham completed a hugely underwhelming first part of their 2022/23 season. The Hammers stumbled to their third home defeat, in the space of just seven days.
It took James Maddison just eight minutes to open the score and set Leicester on their way towards extending their good run of form. The England midfielder's left foot effort from close range was fired into the roof of Lukasz Fabianski's net.
The hosts were able to put together a decent spell, by looking fairly threatening towards the end of the first and start of the second halves.
However, Harvey Barnes rounded off a brilliant Leicester counter-attack on 78 minutes, to put any hopes of a late equaliser to bed. The winger was put through on goal, in-behind the West Ham backline, used his pace to breeze past Nayef Aguerd and finished coolly.
Here are some of the main talking points following another disappointing West Ham performance from London Stadium:
Disastrous week takes West Ham into World Cup break
West Ham would have headed into last Sunday's fixture against Crystal Palace setting themselves the target of a six-point return from their last two league games, before the World Cup break. This would have put them firmly back into the race for potential European places, in the Premier League table.
The eventual outcome of the back-to-back home fixtures - two defeats and a resulting 16th place position in the table.
In addition, West Ham embarrassingly crashed out of the Carabao Cup, after a midweek penalty shoot-out defeat to a second-string Blackburn, in between the two league defeats.
The only thing which aided West Ham in partially reviving their season, after an awful start, was their home form. Six consecutive wins (three in the league, three in the UEFA Europa Conference League) went towards ensuring that the continuation of this positive run would have had The Hammers fairly well placed, heading into the World Cup.
Talk of a third consecutive finish in the European places has all but ended; West Ham find themselves seven points adrift of seventh-placed Brighton, with that gap seeming only more likely to extend, rather than shorten.
Instead of a domestic race for European qualification, attention will now turn to the fact that they sit just one point above the relegation zone.
Europe may become the source of salvation
On the European front, things have gone smoothly for West Ham. This will be of little consolation to supporters, given the fact that qualification to the Round of 16, from a fairly straightforward group, was to be expected.
Six wins from six against Anderlecht, Silkeborg and FCSB have ensured that The Hammers will enter the knockout rounds in mid-February.
By that point, it is possible that a potential UECL triumph will be the only thing West Ham will have to focus on. However, given their league output, it may be naive to assume that West Ham will be clear of any potential flirtation with relegation trouble.
Should West Ham find themselves in a state of mid-table mediocrity come the spring, then the UECL will provide them with a great opportunity to shift their full focus towards obtaining a European place for another season. Winning the tournament would guarantee a place in the 2023/24 Europa League group stage.
Bet365 currently has West Ham as favourites to win the second ever edition of the UECL - ahead of the likes of Lazio, Villarreal and Fiorentina. This reflects the fact that even amidst a troubling start to their domestic campaign, it is still a squad capable of achieving success, this season.
Maddison form aids Rodgers to ride through rough patch
With David Moyes' position as manager coming under further scrutiny, following the 0-2 defeat, Leicester's Brendan Rodgers has been able to come through a tough period of his own.
It is now a lot easier to forget that after their first seven games, Leicester had just a single point to their league tally.
Making use of a much more favourable spell of fixtures, after coming through a challenging one, has meant that The Foxes have recovered impressively.
Leicester head into the World Cup break, having obtained four wins from their last five league fixtures. Their only blip in that time came against champions, Manchester City.
James Maddison's spectacular performances, which also extend back to Leicester's difficult start to the season, have been key in turning his team's fortunes around. An 11th goal contribution of the season yesterday was further justification of a much-deserved call-up to Qatar.
A first half knock forced Maddison to be substituted, arousing concern. However, the in-form midfielder should not have his World Cup participation impacted as a result it.
Leicester defence making up for troubling start
Another source of the significant improvement in results has been the awakening of Leicester's defensive unit.
That calamitous seven game spell to start off the season yielded 22 conceded goals. To contrast, from the subsequent eight fixtures, Leicester have managed to concede just three times.
The long-term absence of Ricardo Pereira, the departure of Kasper Schmeichel and the dip in form of Caglar Soyncu seemed to have been hitting Leicester hard - the signing of Wout Faes, late in the transfer window, yielded a 2-6 debut defeat at Tottenham.
After that chastening start to life in the Premier League, Faes has started every game, amidst Leicester's impressive run. His partnership with Daniel Amartey and the presence of Danny Ward in goal was something that, during the summer, no Leicester supporter could have realistically seen being the first-choice combination, come mid-November.
This unlikely combination is going a long way towards helping Leicester recover from their troubling start. The compactness of the league table ensures that even a European place push remains firmly on the cards, should Leicester be able to avoid another blip, akin to their early season form.