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Leicester City vs West Ham United Player Ratings: 8.5/10 Barnes stars; clinical Bowen gets 8

February 14, 2022 11:30 am
Reading Time: 9 mins read
West Ham United in advanced talks to sign Ibrahim Osman.
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Leicester City dropped two points right at the end, as West Ham United salvaged a draw to keep themselves in the fourth spot for the time being.

West Ham United had an opportunity they should not have missed. Having seen Manchester United and Tottenham drop crucial points in the last two games, the Hammers had the chance to open up a decent gap to the two club. Knowing the looming threat of Arsenal, who have several games in hand over them, David Moyes’s men needed to collect three points.

Instead, West Ham let their one-goal lead slip right at the end of a dominant half to allow Leicester City back into the contest. The Hammers took the lead through the in-form Jarrod Bowen, who broke the lines and collected a brilliant deep ball from Issa Diop to slot it past Kasper Schmeichel.

Aaron Cresswell, who had a terrible game, handled the ball just before the break, allowing Leicester to equalise from the spot through Youri Tielemans. The Belgian then turned up the heat in the second half, as the Foxes dominated proceedings, with Harvey Barnes, in particular, causing all sorts of problems.

Barnes, through his hard work, created the chance in the box, which was headed in by Ricardo Pereira to turn the game on its head. Leicester, then put in a resolute defensive display, while also looking to break on the counter. In the last five minutes, West Ham’s pressure paid off as Craig Dawson converted a corner to equalise and earn his team a valuable point, which will come into context in the top four race later. Here’s how the players fared as West Ham drew with Leicester.

Leicester City

Kasper Schmeichel: 5.5/10

Schmeichel was not overly troubled by the Hammers, although the Dane should have done better to stop Bowen’s opening strike. He could do nothing about the late header from Dawson, although he would be disappointed with the outcome when three points were close.

Ricardo Pereira: 7/10

A good game from the Portuguese full-back, who was troubled in the first period, but came out stronger in the second. Scored the crucial second goal with a diving header to give the Foxes the lead.

Daniel Amartey: 6/10

Amartey was a welcome addition to the backline after a difficult few weeks of bad defending. There were some initial struggles, and he was at fault positionally for Bowen’s opener. But the Ghanaian utility man then settled down and produced a solid outing for the Foxes.

Caglar Soyuncu: 5/10

Soyuncu, who gets dribbled past frequently and rather easily, continues to position himself very high up the pitch. This was the reason Diop could find Bowen with ease. Still, this was a better performance than ones in the previous few weeks.

James Justin: 4/10

Justin only featured for half an hour before being replaced due to an injury. During those 30 minutes, he was majorly at fault in the build-up to Bowen’s goal, as he failed to track the attacker’s run and the long ball.

Wilfried Ndidi: 6/10

Ndidi kept things tight in the midfield, anchoring well and making sure his passes reached their targets for most parts. But it was not an all-around defensive performance, as Ndidi lost many duels.

Youri Tielemans: 7/10

It was a tale of two halves for Tielemans, who exploded onto the scene in the second period and combined superbly with Barnes to keep the Hammers’ defence on their toes. He also retained his 100 per cent record from the penalty spot, as he got the Foxes back into the game just before half-time.

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall: 7/10

Dewsbury-Hall has been growing in his role at Leicester this season, and he put in another good display against the Hammers. He was very tidy on the ball and kept things simple.

James Maddison: 6/10

Maddison had a decent game, although he should have been more involved in the second half when Leicester had West Ham pinned back and were creating good chances.

Patson Daka: 4/10

Daka missed a glorious chance to add a goal after some good work from Barnes in the box. Overall, he endured an ineffective outing, as the Foxes continue to miss Jamie Vardy for his abilities.

Harvey Barnes: 8.5/10

An impressive performance from Barnes, who single-handedly cut through the West Ham defence. His technical quality infuriated and troubled Coufal around the box, as Barnes created the second goal impressively. Top class display from the Foxes star.

SUBSTITUTES

Luke Thomas: 6/10

Thomas replaced the injured Justin and tactically, Leicester’s game changed, as the left-back proved useful when the Foxes attacked more.

Ademola Lookman: 5/10

Lookman did not make much of an impact barring a decent half-chance, which he spurned.

Jannik Vestergaard: 2/10

Rodgers sent the giant centre-back to protect the slender lead, but Vestergaard was instrumental in the Hammers’ late equaliser.

West Ham United

Lukasz Fabianski: 5.5/10

He had no chance with the penalty, although he dived the right way. Despite a sloppy defence standing in front of him, Fabianski was fortunate nothing dangerous came his way. There was no way he could have done anything to stop the second goal either.

Vladimir Coufal: 4/10

Coufal will have been relieved his name was put up for substitution as Barnes ripped through him in the second half. In the first period, however, the right-back was influential and contributed a lot from the right flank.

Craig Dawson: 7/10

Dawson has a knack to get stuck in without ever worrying about a potential injury or knock. And there he was, knocking the ball into the net late on from four yards out to equalise and earn his team a valuable point.

Issa Diop: 6.5/10

Diop was a late inclusion after Zouma pulled out in the warm-ups. The tall defender put in a decent display and made a telling contribution with the superb ball for Bowen to open the scoring.

Aaron Cresswell: 4/10

A game Cresswell would want to quickly forget. He conceded the penalty, then was easily beaten by Ricardo Pereira for the second Foxes goal and was later booked.

Tomas Soucek: 5/10

Soucek had an off game, struggling to keep control of the midfield and complete his passes. While he tried to get stuck in challenges, he was ineffective in his overall display.

Declan Rice: 6/10

Like Soucek, Rice struggled to assert his influence on the game, as he battled with Ndidi in the midfield area. While he kept winning his tackles and passed the ball around well, the cutting edge was missing from his performance on the evening, which seemed to affect matters in the final third.

Manuel Lanzini: 4/10

It was not the best of performances from the Argentine, as he was barely involved. He was substituted by Moyes with ten minutes remaining as the Hammers searched for an equaliser.

Jarrod Bowen: 8/10

There is no stopping Bowen at the moment, as he added to his form with another goal. He was a constant threat on the right-hand side and often moved centrally, causing problems of all manners for the Leicester backline.

Michail Antonio: 5/10

He ran with his usual vigour but was barely effective in his approach throughout the game. There is always optimism whenever he gets the ball, but against Leicester, he did not provide the spark.

Pablo Fornals: 5/10

Much like Antonio, Fornals barely made any sort of impact on the game, particularly in the final third. Moyes took him off in the second half as he looked for an equaliser.

SUBSTITUTES

Ryan Fredericks: 4/10

Moyes wanted more pace and was concerned about the way Barnes was rinsing Coufal. Fredericks, after coming on, barely did anything wrong.

Said Benrahma: 5/10

A bright cameo without creating anything of substance.

Nikola Vlasic: N/A

Did not play enough to get a rating.

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