Vardy opens Van Nistelrooy’s welcome party as Leicester add to West Ham’s woes | Premier League

While one manager was celebrating his first game as manager, another might be experiencing his last. Ruud Van Nistelrooy celebrated a lucky but hard-fought win as he was pleased to see Leicester move four points clear of the relegation zone, but Julen Lopetegui must fear the worst.

After spending over £100m on new players in the summer without any significant improvement in the play or results of David Moyes’ team, the former Wolves manager may be relieved to still be in charge when his previous Club visited the London Stadium the next day Monday.

West Ham appear to be moving backwards. Reading that other managers were chosen for your job can hardly boost morale.

Substitute Patson Daka shot home from the left corner of the penalty area and Niclas Füllkrug exchanged goals in stoppage time. Van Nistelrooy’s great performance heralded his team’s best start. Only 98 seconds had passed when Jamie Vardy, after passing Bilal El Khannouss’ neat pass inside, calmly rolled the ball past Lukasz Fabianski into the bottom corner as the assistant referee’s flag was raised. But it was almost two minutes before the VAR determined that the striker had been offside. This is Vardy’s opportunity to give his best answer to the fans who love to egg him (and his wife) on. The Leicester captain danced in front of the West Ham fans and gave his team a platform for success with his 100th Premier League goal at the King Power Stadium.

If this was a big night for Van Nistelrooy, it was a big one for Julen Lopetegui. West Ham may have won at Newcastle last week – no mean feat – but in the previous run of two wins from 10 games there were reports suggesting he had two games left to save a job he had had only started in May. And when his team lost 4-0 in 36 minutes at home to Arsenal on Saturday evening, the spotlight immediately turned back to him.

When Lopetegui, the former Wolves and Spain coach, became aware of further reports that Sérgio Conceiçao, the former Porto coach, had been informed of a takeover, he could have done without falling behind so quickly. But to his team’s credit, West Ham dominated the rest of the half after Vardy almost scored again. They had eight very presentable chances before the break, with Mads Hermansen saving three times from clever attempts from Jarrod Bowen.

West Ham came closest to scoring at this stage when Danny Ings, following a right-footed cross from Bowen, saw James Justin’s header deflected onto the post.

Mohammed Kudus, returning from a five-match ban, was in fine form, crossing the line just behind Ings and sending an excellent cross for Tomas Soucek, who headed it into the side netting. The net rippled; West Ham fans celebrated; Leicester mocked their false hope. But this game was still on the line.

Lopetegui looked frustrated for most of the first half. Crysencio Summerville was stripped and ready to come on. It seemed a little strange that it had taken the West Ham manager so long to concentrate on direct pace against two defensive players in their 30s – Conor Coady and Jannik Vestergaard – who were never known for their pace.

Bowen went to the middle. After Summerville attacked from the left, Kudus soon combined with Bowen on the cross, allowing Soucek to direct a shot over the crossbar just off the post.

West Ham must have realized their luck was running out when, just before Leicester took a two-goal lead, Soucek was even more unlucky not to help his team back into the game. Summerville shot the ball into the air and Hermansen, gently nudged by the Czech midfielder, intercepted his strike before the ball went over the line. But Josh Smith, the referee, called a foul.

Leicester had just increased their tempo rates at opposite ends of the pitch – Wout Faes replacing Vestergaard, Patson Daka coming on for Vardy – when El Khannouss reached out to reach Kasey McAteer’s pass from the left and direct it into the bottom corner.

Leicester had done enough to give Van Nistelrooy his winning start, although Coady had to respond brilliantly by reversing his momentum and repelling Summerville’s effort after Bowen’s superb pullback off the line.

There were cries of “sacked in the morning” from the corner of West Ham Stadium even before substitute Bobby De Cordova-Reid thought he had scored Leicester’s third goal with nine minutes left after Fabianski had parried an initial attempt. However, the VAR showed that there was a slight offside position in advance.