Leicester City vs West Ham United: The Foxes receive major boost ahead of season defining contest

Leicester City have to beat West Ham United and hope that Everton do not win their final game against Bournemouth.

Leicester City players celebrate a goal in a file photo; Credit: Twitter@premierleague
By Karthik Raman | May 27, 2023 | 3 Min Read follow icon Follow Us

The relegation battle is one to look out for in the final matchday of the current Premier League season, as three clubs bid to avoid demotion to second division. Hence, the match between Leicester City and West Ham United holds bigger significance than many might have thought. West Ham though have guaranteed their safety, thereby the three points is of more importance to the home side. As things stand, Everton are placed 17th in the table with 33 points, while 18th and 19th placed Leicester City and Leeds United are on 31 points respectively. All teams have played 37 matches till now.

Leicester City have to beat West Ham United and hope that Everton do not win their final game against Bournemouth. That is the only scenario in which Leicester can survive the relegation. Ahead of the match, the Foxes received plenty of injury boost. Club captain Jonny Evans and Kelechi Iheanacho could be in line to play the game. They could be joined in the Starting XI by Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Ricardo Pereira. However, question marks still hang over Wilfred Ndidi’s fitness situation, while Çağlar Söyüncü is ruled out of the contest.

Team News

Dean Smith, manager of Leicester City, was quoted as saying by the club’s website, “Çağs tried to get back into training yesterday but felt it. It was too close. He wanted to push himself so that shows a lot about his character. [Dewsbury-Hall’s] good. He’s been training the last few days. He’s available for selection. Kelechi is fine. Jonny Evans is fine. Ricardo Pereira, we scanned him and he’s fine. Wilf is the only question mark at the moment. He hasn’t trained yet since the injury.”

Meanwhile, Leicester City captain Jonny Evans wants his teammates to be fully prepared and ready for the all-important final day contest. “We’ll have a game plan coming into the game. We’ll make sure that everyone understands that and that we’re prepared. I’m sure there will be lots of different scenarios that could pop up throughout the 90 minutes, so we’ve got to be well prepared and know how we’re going to approach the match as we’re in it and as it’s going on,” he told LCFC TV.

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With a lot of possible scenarios set to happen on the final day, a win might not necessarily be enough for a team to stay safe. “If we are in a winning position, you’ll want to know what’s going on. I think it’s important to have that information because it can obviously change how you approach the match, if you want to kill the game, or speed it up. There’s so many different things which go on throughout the game,” he added.

Jonny Evans on West Ham United

Jonny Evans then heaped praise on West Ham United, who still have a Europa Conference League final to look forward to. “West Ham are in good form at the moment. They’ve got themselves into a final, but we’ve got to concentrate on what we’re doing. We know they’re a good team, with some very good players. David Moyes will have them well fired-up, well-drilled. He’s a winner, he’ll want to win every game, so we know it’s going to be difficult. We have to be secure behind the ball when we are going forward and make sure we limit them,” he stated.





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