After this minute-by-minute report of the match closed, reports emerged that the helicopter carrying Leicester City’s owner, Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, had crashed outside the stadium. It has since been confirmed that he was among five people killed in the accident. You can read our news story below.
And with that, this MBM comes to its natural end. All that’s left to do is point you in the direction of Jacob Steinberg’s take on tonight’s events at the King Power ... and to thank you for reading. Night night!
Declan Rice has his say. “It was gutting to concede so late, after the sending off so early in the first half. But we’ll take the point. This is always a hard place to come, and with ten men I thought we were excellent. We said at half-time that we had to fight: the amount of second balls we won, the amount of times we caught them offside, luckily enough we came away with the point. We build on this.” He’s then asked about his international situation. Having been put on the spot, he smiles broadly and says: “I’m just focused on playing for West Ham.”
Claude Puel talks. “It was a tough game. We started very well, but after, I don’t know why, we lost control. We played deep and West Ham played well. We came back in the second half with positive desire. It was a good second half with a lot of chances, I don’t know how many. It was important to come back. My first thought is for my player Daniel Amartey, I hope it is not a serious injury. He is playing well and was at his best in this game, so it is difficult. My thought is more about his injury than this game. We need to examine him. I would like to wish Glenn Hoddle all the best, and hope he can have a speedy recovery.”
Marc Albrighton talks. “It’s difficult to do much more than we did. We threw everything at them. Balls weren’t dropping for us where we’d like. But in the end we got that slice of luck our performance warranted. We need to work on getting to the second ball in both boxes, we need to be switched on. If we’d got our goal earlier, we’d have gone on to win the game.”
Wilfred Ndidi adds: “It was really difficult in the first half. The second half was OK because they were one man down. I didn’t think it was going to come. I think the red card was a good decision from the ref.”
That draw means Leicester stay in the bottom half of the table. They’re in 12th spot, on 13 points. West Ham are just one place below them, though they’re five points worse off. Both teams, for differing reasons, will think they should have taken all three points on offer today. But it wasn’t to be.
FULL TIME: Leicester City 1-1 West Ham United
And that, finally, is that. A draw is the least Leicester deserved after putting West Ham under siege in the second half. But you wonder how West Ham, dominant in the first half, would have done had their captain not got himself so recklessly sent off.
90 min +6: Albrighton sees a snapshot blocked from the edge of the area. Antonio romps up the other end but runs out of steam. Then Leicester have another go, Albrighton’s right-wing cross setting up a game of head tennis. Eventually Iborra is caught offside.
90 min +5: Chilwell scoops a ball over the West Ham back line. Okazaki is clear, but his header is weak and easily snaffled by Fabianski. And turns out the striker was offside anyway.
90 min +4: The board had gone up for four added minutes; we will have a few more after the unfortunate Amartey’s injury. The King Power rises as one to applaud the stricken player as he disappears down the tunnel on a stretcher.
90 min +2: Sadly, play has been stopped because Amartey’s left leg buckled as he challenged Antonio. It looks like a bad injury: the physios are on with stretcher, protective boot, and gas.
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90 min: Antonio bustles with Amartey down the right. He slips the ball to Snodgrass, who reaches the byline and cuts the ball back. Ogbonna is there, clear in the area. He aims for the top left, but leans back too much. A real chance to regain the lead they’d just lost.
GOAL! Leicester City 1-1 West Ham United (Ndidi 89)
It’s fair to say this had been coming! But when it does, it’s awful luck for West Ham. Ndidi cuts in from the left and has a shot from 25 yards. It balloons off the backside of Balbuena, curls wide left, then back into the top-left corner!
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88 min: Antonio bursts down the middle, taking four Leicester hangers-on with him. He’s inexplicably allowed to reach the box and take a shot; Schmeichel saves. Then up the other end, Chilwell breaks down the left and tees up Ndidi, who slams home in the middle. But he’s offside.
86 min: Zabaleta had been booked for that aforementioned Hegelian dialectic, it seems. And now he goes in too eagerly on Gray, standing on his ankle. That could be a red in its own right; it’s not even a second yellow. He should be walking.
85 min: Albrighton whips a low cross in from the right. Vardy lunges to meet it, but can only poke the ball wide left, all at fast pace. The flag goes up anyway, and turns out he was miles offside, West Ham having held their line on the edge of the box.
83 min: A corner for Leicester down the right. It’s wasted. They’ve been relentless in this second half, but just can’t find a way to carve West Ham - defensively resolute West Ham - open.
82 min: Chilwell and Zabaleta discuss philosophical concepts, nose to nose, after a common-or-garden coming together down the Leicester left. The referee points out that they’re both grown men, and we carry on.
81 min: Before West Ham take the set piece, they replace Felipe Anderson with Ogbonna, who is immediately in the thick of the action: he meets Snodgrass’s free kick with a header, six yards out. He should score, but his effort drifts wide right.
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80 min: Michelangelo masterpiece Soyuncu departs. He’s replaced by Okazaki. Just before he was hooked, he’d barged into the back of Antonio, conceding a free kick in a dangerous position down the left.
78 min: Schmeichel nearly gifts a chance to Antonio, ludicrously rolling a pass in the direction of the striker, who was standing right next to him. Fortunately for the Leicester keeper, the ball somehow whistles between Antonio’s legs and away from danger. Schmeichel breathes again.
77 min: Chilwell and Gray combine well down the left. Maguire joins in, and very nearly flicks the ball through a gap down the inside-left channel to set Chilwell free. Zabaleta closes it down just in time.
75 min: Cresswell comes on for Diangana.
74 min: Albrighton, out on the right, sends a magnificent crossfield pass towards Gray on the other flank. Gray brings it down from the sky and nudges it past Zabaleta in one delicious swish of his boot. He applies too much energy on the ball - about one joule - and he can’t reach it before it runs out for a goal kick. But he so nearly ripped West Ham open there in sensational style. He’s going to be some player, Gray.
72 min: Magnificent wingplay by Gray, who diddles Diangana with a saucy spin down the left before dispatching the ball into the centre. Minor bedlam ensues, but nothing that worries West Ham too much. Then Amartey has a shot from distance; it’s very wild. Not sure whether the ball is any longer in ATVLand.
71 min: Zabaleta outdoes Maguire for pace on the right touchline. Maguire barges him over in the cynical fashion, and really should go in the book. But he escapes that one.
70 min: Good work from Gray out on the left, and it’s another Leicester corner. It’s wasted.
68 min: Antonio dribbles in from the left wing and goes over Soyuncu’s marble leg. You’ve seen penalties given for less than that, though the referee clearly thinks it’s nothing more than a tangle of feet. It did look as though Antonio had his leg clipped from behind.
67 min: For the second game in a row, Leicester hit the crossbar! Maguire meets a Maddison corner from the right, and his header caroms off the top of the goalframe! To be honest, it wasn’t the greatest effort, looped rather than powered goalwards, but hitting the bar is hitting the bar. Leicester are getting ever closer.
66 min: Chilwell blazes down the left and crosses low. Maddison looks to pick up possession just inside the box, but he’s tackled perfectly by Diop. No penalty. The ball breaks to Gray, who can’t work Fabianski.
65 min: Maddison drops a shoulder to make some space, 25 yards from goal, and sends a rising shot towards the top left. It’s only just off target. Leicester may soon start wondering what they have to do to score.
63 min: And now Vardy misses a sitter! Albrighton makes good down the right, and whips to the near post. Vardy has timed his run brilliantly, losing Diop and Balbuena, and meets the cross with a powerful header. But from six yards, it flashes over the bar. He should have worked Fabianski at the very least; he probably should have scored.
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62 min: Albrighton gives Fabianski a workout, shooting twice in quick succession for the bottom right. The keeper gets behind both efforts.
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61 min: Both sides make a change; both sides replace utterly ineffectual strikers. Hernandez makes way for Antonio; Gray comes on for Iheanacho.
60 min: Amartey chips Albrighton into space down the right. Albrighton cuts the ball back for Vardy, but he’d run out of pitch. West Ham aren’t exactly comfortable here, but they’re holding on, and Fabianski hasn’t had that much to do.
59 min: Diangana has a bash from the best part of 30 yards. Ah the arrogance of youth.
57 min: Maguire beckenbauers his way forward and slips the ball wide left for Chilwell, who slips inside for Maddison. Maddison clatters into Balbuena and wants a penalty. He’s not getting it. Then Iheanacho has a snapshot that clatters into Zabaleta’s hanging arm. He’s after a penalty too; like his team-mate, he creates in vain. Both are correct decisions.
55 min: There’s nobody other than Schmeichel and Renaissance sculpture Soyuncu in the Leicester half. Albrighton works his way down the right and centres. Vardy rises but his header from 12 yards is weak and drifts off to the left.
53 min: It’s one-way traffic at the moment. Ndidi looks for the top-right corner from 25 yards, but the shot is always sailing wide.
52 min: Chilwell is a force of nature. He breezes down the left and nearly makes it all the way into the box. Zabaleta is wisely positioned, and intercepts at the last, before Chilwell can get a shot away.
51 min: Vardy twists and spins down the left, and hooks a cross to the far post for Albrighton, who sidefoots into the side netting from close range. It wouldn’t have counted anyway, because Vardy - initially set clear by the marauding Chilwell - was caught offside.
50 min: The ever-impressive Chilwell bombs down the left and is inches away from setting Vardy clear in the area with his pass inside. Not quite, though the ball nearly finds its way to Iheanacho on the penalty spot. Balbuena gets in the road. This has been a lively start to the second half by Leicester ... though they started brightly in the first, too, and look what happened there.
48 min: Chilwell bursts down the left and nearly finds the head of Vardy with his cross. The ball loops up off a defender, and Ndidi is the one who really wants to meet it as it drops. He wins the header but it’s easily claimed by Fabianski.
47 min: Michelangelo’s Soyuncu is booked for a clumsy trip on Hernandez.
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46 min: Leicester are immediately on the attack, Albrighton probing down the right, Chilwell on the left. Maddison chips a pass down the inside-left channel for Vardy, but it’s too strong and Fabianski is out to claim.
And we’re back! The second half begins, Leicester getting the ball rolling again. They’ve made a change, hooking Ghezzal in favour of ... no prizes ... Jamie Vardy.
Half-time reading:
HALF TIME: Leicester City 0-1 West Ham United
West Ham are still leading. But they were also bossing this game. However since Noble’s dismissal, the hosts have enjoyed 80 percent possession. The half-time whistle’s come at exactly the right time for Manuel Pellegrini and his ten men.
45 min +1: In the first of two extra first-half minutes, Chilwell leans back and skies a shot from distance.
44 min: Ghezzal picks up Diangana’s foolish pass, played across the face of his own box, and flicks Iheanacho free. Iheanacho smashes a low shot towards the bottom right, but it’s blocked, and turns out the striker is offside anyway. “Is it me or is Leicester new boy Caglar Soyuncu a bit of a looker?” asks Rob Hack. “There’s something of Michelangelo’s David about him, not that I notice these things of course.” He certainly has the mobility of Michelangelo’s David, if his part in West Ham’s goal is anything to go by.
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42 min: Corner for Leicester on the left. Maddison’s delivery causes Fabianski to flap, but somehow West Ham get the ball out of the road. How quickly this game has changed, and it’s all down to the West Ham captain’s recklessness.
40 min: Ndidi is thankfully fine to continue. A free kick for Leicester out on the right. It’s hooked towards the far post by Maddison, and Iborra meets it with a powerful downward header. Fabianski does extremely well to parry the ball out, and Masuaku hoicks clear.
RED CARD! Mark Noble (West Ham United)
38 min: Noble slides in on Ndidi. His leads with his studs, high, and sticks them on Ndidi’s shin, bending his planted leg. Noble pleads his innocence, but that’s a no-brainer for the referee, who flourishes red immediately. A dreadful challenge - and also pointless, made in the midfield, Ndidi going nowhere.
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34 min: The King Power is very quiet now, save the noise being made by the travelling fans. Leicester have been very poor since that early burst of action.
32 min: That had been coming. Maddison tries to level things up immediately with a shot from distance. His effort, intended for the top right, isn’t the worst, but it’s a little bit too high, and wide to boot.
GOAL! Leicester City 0-1 West Ham United (Balbuena 30)
Chilwell bundles Diangana to the floor. A free kick just right of centre. Anderson dinks it diagonally to Rice, who heads across goal. Balbuena is unmarked, six yards out! His header comes off the inside of the left-hand post, confusing the hell out of Schmeichel who spins, always facing the wrong direction as the ball bounces across the face of goal. Balbuena is first to react, and slams home! A cute free kick, and utterly appalling defending.
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29 min: Masuaku romps down the left, found by Filipe Anderson on the overlap. He sends a fine looper into the middle, and Chilwell does extremely well to head clear with Snodgrass and Hernandez lurking.
28 min: Leicester can’t get anything going up front at all. Maddison and Iheanacho might as well be on the bench with Vardy right now; they’re not seeing any of the ball. West Ham look very comfortable.
26 min: Leicester’s defence was all over the show then. Caglar Soyuncu is making his debut, so let’s cut them all some slack.
24 min: Snodgrass dribbles down the middle and reaches the edge of the box. He lays off for Hernandez, who can’t get the ball out from under his feet. Filipe Anderson has a go, but he can’t work it out either. Finally Snodgrass takes up possession again - note how the Leicester defence is doing bugger all - and shifts into space to the left before dragging a shot across the face of goal and out for a goal kick. Had anyone in claret anticipated that, they’d have been tapping one home. But no.
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22 min: Albrighton curls a cross in from the left. Fabianski plucks it from the sky without too much trouble, though Iheanacho was in attendance. At least it got the crowd going a bit; they’d fallen quiet as West Ham established control of the midfield.
20 min: Snodgrass has a look from 20 yards, having dropped a shoulder to make a little bit of space for himself. He drags his shot wide left of Schmeichel’s goal; the keeper had it covered. West Ham are totally on top at the minute.
19 min: A lot of space for Filipe Anderson down the left. There’s nobody in the box for him to find, though, and a cross blootered to nobody in particular on the other wing represents a howl of frustration.
17 min: West Ham pin Leicester back in their final third. They’ve had 66 percent of the possession in the last five minutes. Nothing much comes of it, but it’s all good news for the Hammers after that slow start.
15 min: The perky Ghezzal skips past a couple of challenges down the middle, but can’t quite send Ndidi clear down the left with his pass.
13 min: Noble has a dig from the edge of the Leicester box. Albrighton slides in bravely to block. This is better from the visitors. It’s been a nice open match so far; not quite end-to-end, more to-and-fro. Both keepers now have warm hands.
12 min: West Ham show in attack for the first time. Zabaleta reaches the byline on the right. His cutback finds Snodgrass, who can’t make space to take a shot. There’s a minor melee, then the ball breaks right to Filipe Anderson, who fizzes a low effort goalwards. Schmeichel smothers well.
11 min: Albrighton sends a cross into the box from the left. The ball skims off the top of Balbuena’s head, and threatens to loop over Fabianski and into the top right. The keeper arches his back and fingertips over the bar at full stretch. Great save, and though it might have been clearing the bar anyway, he couldn’t take the chance. Nothing comes of the resulting corner.
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9 min: Maddison pings a perfect crossfield pass towards Chilwell on the left wing. Chilwell nudges it infield first time for Albrighton, who can’t find anyone in the centre with a cross. Then a second phase of attack, as Ghezzal spins down the inside-right and nearly frees Iheanacho with a slide-rule pass down the channel. All very pretty.
7 min: A lot of scrappy nonsense in the midfield. It’s a mild improvement for West Ham, who were on the ropes a little for a while there. Top tide-stemming.
5 min: Maddison hits this one deep. Maguire’s presence worries Fabianski, who can’t clear his lines. The ball breaks to Albrighton, just to the right of the D. Albrighton sweeps a low shot wide left; the keeper had that covered all the way. This is a bright start by Leicester, and a sluggish one by West Ham.
4 min: Maddison’s close-range trickery earns a corner for Leicester on the left. Maddison takes it himself, and whips the ball to the near post. It’s a dangerous delivery. West Ham bundle the ball out for another corner.
2 min: Leicester string a few passes together in West Ham territory. Then Albrighton sashays in from the left and curls a glorious ball into the middle. Iheanacho slips in between Diop and Balbuena, and sweeps a glorious first-time shot into the bottom left! But the flag goes up, correctly, as the striker had needlessly gone too early.
And we’re off! West Ham get the ball rolling, and immediately hoick it straight out of play down the left. The only way is up!
Here come the teams! Leicester City play in their famous blue kit ...
... while West Ham sport their world-renowned claret. Any minute now!
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Manuel Pellegrini speaks! “It is not easy when you have nine players injured that cannot be involved in this game. Yarmolenko has had surgery during the week, while Arnautovic has a virus, a fever, so it is impossible for him to play. Grady Diangana [the 20-year-old making his first Premier League start tonight] is a footballer, a technical midfielder, he doesn’t lose too many balls. So he should have the option in a big game to show what he can give to our team.”
Claude Puel on Jamie Vardy. The striker came off at Arsenal ill, but yesterday posted a picture of himself training, claiming he is fully fit, on some social media site or other. Spat ahoy! Spat ahoy? Best ask the manager. “Of course the player wants to start. But I have to manage the player. We have three games in a week and need to manage all the squad. It is important to play well, at 100 percent, and it will be a good opportunity for Jamie and Demarai Gray to come on in the second half.”
The big news for Leicester City: Jamie Vardy has been dropped. That’s one of four changes to the team that lost 3-1 at Arsenal. Jonny Evans, Nampalys Mendy and Ricardo Pereira also drop to the bench. Taking their places: Caglar Soyuncu, Vicente Iborra, Rachid Ghezzal and Marc Albrighton.
West Ham United make three changes to the XI named against Tottenham last weekend. Andriy Yarmolenko is injured, Marko Arnautovic has the flu, and Aaron Cresswell drops to the bench. Javier Hernandez, Grady Diangana and Arthur Masuaku step up.
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The teams
Leicester City: Schmeichel, Amartey, Soyuncu, Maguire, Chilwell, Ndidi, Iborra, Ghezzal, Maddison, Albrighton, Iheanacho.
Subs: Evans, Gray, Vardy, Ward, Ricardo Pereira, Okazaki, Mendy.
West Ham United: Fabianski, Zabaleta, Balbuena, Diop, Masuaku, Rice, Diangana, Noble, Snodgrass, Felipe Anderson, Hernandez.
Subs: Cresswell, Adrian, Ogbonna, Fredericks, Powell, Coventry, Antonio.
Referee: Michael Oliver (Northumberland).
Preamble
Welcome to our coverage of the early-evening Premier League offering, a game between two mid-table teams on a two-match losing run. Which admittedly doesn’t sell it very well, but this could be a doozy. There hasn’t been a scoreless draw between these clubs since 2004; since then, they’ve met 12 times, averaging just over three goals a match. It’s on!
The hosts will still be smarting from defeat at Arsenal, who scored three very pretty goals against them at the Emirates on Monday night. Thing is, though, on another night Claude Puel’s men could easily have beaten the Gunners away for the first time since 1973; they took the lead, should have had a penalty, and hit the crossbar. So now the sting of defeat has passed, they shouldn’t be too disheartened.
West Ham meanwhile narrowly lost to Tottenham Hotspur. And there’s no shame in that. It’s been a mixed bag for the Hammers on the road this season; dispatched with ease at Liverpool and Arsenal, quite magnificent at Everton. They’ve also got a home win over Manchester United notched on their belt. And they won at the King Power last May. So while they’re closer to the bottom than the top right now, they won’t be too down on themselves either.
All of which promises much. So with that said, if this match ends goalless, this MBM accepts no responsibility and denies all accusations. Kick off is at 5.30pm BST.
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