West Ham vs. Leicester City
Venue: Upton Park
Kick off: 3pm
West Ham United host Leicester City at Upton Park on Saturday hoping to build on a hugely encouraging start to the 2015-16 Premier League season after beating Arsenal.
However, this Saturday throws up another test as City travel to East London on the back of a 4-2 win over Sunderland in what was Claudio Ranieri’s first game in charge.
As far as morale-boosting wins go, there can be precious few better ways to kick off a season than to beat Arsenal 2-0 at the Emirates Stadium, but will the Hammers’ feel-good factor last?
West Ham and Slaven Bilic certainly looked a happy couple as they left North London with cans tied to the back of their bus, but it remains to be seen whether or not the win is merely the start of a honeymoon period or an indicator that a successful long-term matrimony lies ahead.
In truth, they were always going to be a danger on Sunday. It was the first game in a new era of the club, but such a high-profile victory may have come at a cost for the Croatian boss.
Bilic has shown his hand – and it looks a strong one – but the element of surprise that rocked Arsenal will not be present at Upton Park.
They are far less of an unknown quantity as a result of upsetting the Gunners. Leicester boss Ranieri has an advantage over Arsene Wenger in the sense that he knows things about the new West Ham that Wenger could only have speculated about in his pre-match planning.
Dimitri Payet, who turned in a superb debut following his £10m move from Marseille, has already demanded extra attention from opposition managers. Reece Oxford bellied his 16 years with a mature midfield display. Mauro Zarate also proved significantly problematic, while the centre-back partnership of Winston Reid and new boy Angelo Ogbonna looked impenetrable.
The test for West Ham now is whether or not they can continue making big strides under Bilic in the knowledge that it will be harder every week. Each passing game provides his next opposition with new study material to know their enemy better than the previous team.
Ranieri revealed that he used a song by Leicester natives Kasabian to inspire his troops ahead of facing Sunderland last week. It worked.
‘Fire’ was the tune that greeted City as they entered the field of play at the King Power Stadium, and the hosts went on to produce a red-hot display that floored their North-East counterparts.
Jamie Vardy and a double from Riyad Mahrez secured a 3-0 lead at the break, before Marc Albrighton added another in the second half as Ranieri’s tenure got underway in style – just what the doctor ordered following a summer of turmoil at the club.
Despite leading Leicester to safety in one of the Premier League’s great escape acts last season, Nigel Pearson was sacked as manager after his relationship with the club’s owners broke down following their decision to terminate his son’s contract upon the release of a perceived racist sex tape.
Losing manager Pearson on June 30 will have rocked the club as they looked to pick up where they left off toward the end of last season, having won seven and drawn one of their final nine games.
However, if first impressions are anything to go by then the studious Ranieri also looks up to the task of safeguarding their top-flight future.
It will be months before Leicester’s hierarchy discover whether or not their dismissal of Pearson will come back to bite them, but winning away to a resurgent West Ham on Saturday may strengthen their belief that the 63-year-old Ranieri has the nous to build on the foundations laid by Pearson and keep that fire burning for a while yet.
West Ham possible starting lineup: Adrian; Jenkinson, Reid, Ogbonna, Cresswell; Oxford, Noble; Kouyate, Payet, Zarate; Sakho.
Leicester possible starting lineup: Schmeichel; De Laet, Huth, Morgan, Schlupp; Albrighton, Drinkwater, King, Mahrez; Okazaki, Vardy.
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