In his first game as manager, Leicester City defeated West Ham United 3-1 in the Premier League on Tuesday, giving manager Ruud van Nistelrooy a strong start.
While a dominant West Ham team wasted numerous fine chances and only managed a late consolation goal from Niclas Fuellkrug, Leicester took their chances and scored through veteran striker Jamie Vardy, 20-year-old Bilal El Khannouss, and substitute Patson Daka.
After the Foxes had a bad start to the season, Van Nistelrooy was brought in on Friday to take Steve Cooper’s place.
Although he did not have much time with his new charges, his arrival brought much-needed luck to the team.
West Ham is now one spot above Leicester in the standings, while Leicester, who last triumphed six weeks ago, is now in 15th place, one point above the relegation spots.
Although it took more than two minutes for a VAR assessment to certify that Vardy’s run had been properly timed, the 37-year-old scored after 98 seconds after beating the offside trap.
After a long ball to the left from Facundo Buonanotte stretched the West Ham defence, El Khannouss headed home a brilliantly weighted pass inside from Kasey McAteer to give Leicester their second goal on the hour mark.
Daka was freed on the left and finished with a strong strike in the 90th minute, but Bobby De Cordova-Reid’s attempt was chalked off for offside following a VAR assessment in the 81st minute.
The Hammers dominated the rest of the game, denying multiple easy chances before scoring a late consolation goal.
The outcome put additional pressure on manager Julen Lopetegui, who was already under fire.
Making his first start of the season, Danny Ings’ header in the 13th minute went off Leicester fullback James Justin and onto the post’s base.
Conor Coady of Leicester stopped replacement Crysencio Summerville’s attempt with the tip of his toe in the 69th minute as he was falling back into his own net.
In addition, Leicester custodian Mads Hermansen was given a let-off in the 58th minute when he attempted to punch the ball but failed, letting it fall into the goal before the referee awarded a free kick for a shove by Tomas Soucek.
Four minutes into stoppage time, Fuellkrug’s header on his comeback from injury gave West Ham their first goal.
