Leicester City 2 West Ham 1
A predictable defeat in this one, with the Irons players not wanting to get injured before the Europa Conference Final and Leicester needing to win in case Everton failed to beat Bournemouth. Moyes picked a strong side, resting only Soucek, Bowen and Zouma.
West Ham might have done more in the first 30 minutes after several attacks fizzled out. Iheanacho clipped the top of the bar after cutting inside, but Leicester looked nervous. A rare moment of quality saw the Foxes take the lead as Barnes played a swift one-two with Iheanacho, getting beyond Coufal and Downes, to angle the ball home.
The Hammers played with more passion after the break, with Evans heading a corner past his own post and Benrahma curling a fine effort against the base of Leicester's post. Faes headed home the second from a free kick, somehow getting in between WHU's central defenders. But by then news had come through from Goodison that Everton had scored and the West Ham fans taunted the home crowd with chants of, "Say hello to Millwall!"
Sub Bowen had a shot parried by Iverson and then laid the rebound into the path of fellow sub Danny Ings, who somehow blazed over. The Irons did pull one back when Ings released Fornals on the left and Pablo scored with a precise shot in off the near post. There was still time for a blonde Maxwel Cornet to come on, perhaps a disguise in the hope that my pal Matt doesn't recognise him and give him a hard time. He was soon getting in the way of his own player and then kicking his man instead of the ball, which rather sums up his season.
Not too much to learn from this, apart from the fact it kept most of the side match-fit for Prague. It's a sad comedown for Leicester after their title win in 2016, but as the Hammers know, no side is too good to go down. It's been a long, bizarre season, cut in half by the World Cup. One more game to go now - and it's a big one.
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