West Ham made it two wins from two to start the new Premier League season and beat Leicester at London Stadium.
The Foxes played more than half of the game with 10 players after Ayoze Perez was sent off correctly in the first half after a VAR attack.
The Hammers were already on top and had taken the lead before that through a sweeping Pablo Fornals finish when the red card came, which meant that it would always be an uphill climb for Leicester to get everything out of the game.
Just before half-time, Perez committed a ruthless pass over the ball and planted his foot on Fornal’s shin and ankle. Judge Michael Oliver was advised to take another look at the incident and quickly decided to give a red card after just a couple of appearances.
West Ham’s playing field had worked a candy until that time, which meant that Leicester had plenty of the ball in their backs and tried to break after winning it. This is exactly how the goal was scored, while the hosts then took more control of the ball when they had a male advantage.
Leicester scored the second West Ham goal when Michail Antonio intercepted a back-pass and set up Said Benrahma. The visitors pulled one back towards the game through Youri Tielemans, but it only gave a short jump as a clinical Antonio then scored two fine goals of his own to become West Ham’s leading Premier League player of all time.
Here’s a closer look at how both sets of players performed individually …
Vladimiar Coufal was infinitely up and down to the right of West Ham / GLYN KIRK / Getty Images
Lukasz Fabianski (GK) 6/10: Didn’t have much to do most of the time.
Vladimir Coufal (RB) 7/10: Good at both ends of the pitch, as has been expected.
Craig Dawson (CB) 6/10: Made more of a threat in Leicester’s box from set pieces than any meaningful defense he had to make.
Angelo Ogbonna (CB) 6/10: A more comfortable night than he probably expected.
Aaron Cresswell (LB) 6/10: Regularly had the ball in advanced positions to the left and wanted to cross.
Pablo Fornals got the ball rolling for West Ham / Michael Regan / Getty Images
Declan Rice (CM) 7/10: His interception won back the ball to start the move that allowed the hammer to break the deadlock. Had some driving ahead that caused Leicester problems.
Tomas Soucek (CM) 7/10: Come forward to support the attack whenever possible.
Pablo Fornals (AM) 7/10: Started and finished the move that put West Ham in the lead and was full of energy in midfield.
Michail Antonio was pretty unplayable / Michael Regan / Getty Images
Jarrod Bowen (RW) 7/10: Made a threat on the right flank with nice interaction.
Michail Antonio (ST) 9/10: Created the second Hammers goal by showing high expectation of catching the ball. Well worth his two goals, which showed real “number nine” instincts.
Sa Benrahma (LW) 8/10: Delivered a measured low cross for the Fornals to score in the first half and was rewarded with a goal for himself in the second after getting stuck on Anton’s pass.
Mark Noble (CM) N / A
Andriy Yarmolenko (ST) N / A
Caglar Soyuncu was bad for Leicester / Marc Atkins / Getty Images
Kasper Schmeichel (GK) 7/10: Did his best to keep Leicester in the game. Made several saves, including a particularly fine stop to deny Antonio a nearby headline.
Ricardo Pereira (RB) 5/10: Missed a great chance to score in the first half that would have leveled for Leicester and potentially given the game a completely different complexion.
Daniel Amartey (CB) 5/10: Saw an excessive amount of ball in the first half, but it did not help the foxes to get on the field. Not much more solid than his partner.
Caglar Soyuncu (CB) 4/10: Directly responsible for West Ham’s second goal when his blind pass back to Schmeichel was caught. Had other failures that went unpunished.
Luke Thomas (LB) 5/10: Faced with a tough task on the left due to Coufal’s willingness to get ahead of West Ham, double with Bowen.
Youri Tielemans made Leicester’s consolation against the game / Julian Finney / Getty Images
Wilfred Ndidi (CM) 5/10: Was unusually outbattled in midfield when he is so often dominant.
Youri Tielemans (CM) 5/10: Not his usual self and was often under tremendous pressure when he got the ball. His goal came out of the blue
James Maddison (AM) 5/10: Created the goal that gave Leicester short jumps but was fairly anonymous for much of the game before and after.
Ayoze Perez was sent off in the first half / Michael Regan / Getty Images
Ayoze Perez (RW) 3/10: Created a good chance for Leicester to score but was sent off in the first half for a ruthless and dangerous tackle on the Fornals.
Jamie Vardy (ST) 5/10: Visibly disappointed when he dropped the ball that directly led to the opening goal. Did not really come to life until after the Leicester goal but it was short.
Harvey Barnes (LW) 6/10: Sharp forward and was the only Leicester player who seemed to be able to make something happen until he was replaced relatively early.
Patson Daka could not make a difference for Leicester / Michael Regan / Getty Images
Patson Daka (ST) 5/10: Given 25 minutes to influence but it will always be tough.
Boubakary Soumare (CM) N / A
Kelechi Iheanacho (ST) N / A
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