Monday night held a feast of football which saw two London clubs defeat two sides from the Midlands. Fulham picked up their first away win of the season with a 2-1 win at Leicester City, while West Ham United turned over Aston Villa 2-1 on home soil.
The first of the evening’s kick-offs began at the King Power Stadium as Leicester City hosted Fulham.
The Foxes went into the game having lost three of their last five home games, as many as they had in their previous 20 matches.
And the Cottagers extended this streak to four losses in six courtesy of goals from Ademola Lookman and Ivan Cavaleiro.
Leicester looked the most likely to make a breakthrough. After 20 minutes, James Maddison’s deflected free-kick fell kindly to Youri Tielemans, who lashed at the ball from outside the area with his weak foot before hitting the post. Wesley Fofana reacted instinctively to the rebound but then clipped the woodwork himself, too.
Brendan Rodgers’ side were pushing for the opening goal but were carved up by the visitors in a swift counter-attack finished by Lookman.
The England Under-21 international opened the scoring on 30 minutes after an exhilarating change of transition. Fulham broke with Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa as he drove 30 yards before sliding in Lookman to finish.
It was a shock for Leicester, who went on to concede another eight minutes later. Fulham earned a penalty after Bobby Decordova-Reid latched onto a long pass in behind. Leicester City veteran Christian Fuchs showed zero experience in his challenge, clipping Decordova-Reid needlessly. The makeshift wing-back for the Cottagers was going nowhere.
Fulham Scott Parker granted Cavaleiro permission to take the penalty despite the team’s ineptitude from the penalty spot in recent times. The Portuguese forward slammed the penalty beyond Schmeichel’s reach to double Fulham’s lead.
Leicester made changes at half-time, changing personnel by bringing on Harvey Barnes and Cengiz Under.
Substitute Barnes managed to make an impact, firing home a wonderfully taken half-volley on his weaker foot in the 86th minute.
But it was little too late for the Foxes as several chances went begging.
Leicester City will look to bounce back in their Europa League campaign this week with a game against Zorya Luhansk, before facing bottom of the league Sheffield United on Sunday.
Fulham will look to maintain this run of form in their next match against a tough Manchester City side on Saturday afternoon.
West Ham hosted Aston Villa in the 8.30pm kick-off and it did not fail to disappoint.
Angelo Ogbonna towered over his marker to fire the Hammers into the lead after two minutes.
West Ham looked defensively resolute up until the 25th minute. Aston Villa captain and talisman Jack Grealish drew the visitors level after a superb solo run through the midfield. Space on the edge of area opened up for Grealish who snapped up the opportunity to fire into the top left corner. Although it took a deflection, the power of the strike looked to beat West Ham goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski regardless.
Similar to Leicester, West Ham opted to change personnel at half-time – introducing Sebastien Haller and Said Benrahma to the second half.
It was a majestic decision by Moyes, as Benrahma picked out Jarrod Bowen with a perfectly weighted cross to put the Irons ahead one minute into the second-half.
It was a huge wake up call for Dean Smith’s side, who created several chances (16 shots) since going behind.
After the 74th-minute mark, Declan Rice tugged Trezeguet down in the area to grant the visitors a penalty.
But Ollie Watkins failed to capitalise as the ex-Brentford striker stepped up and fired against the crossbar.
It was a sign that it wasn’t going to be Villa’s day and this was followed up with some more VAR excitement.
Watkins thought he’d equalised after being picked out by Matt Targett’s cross, however the finish was chalked off after the officials at Stockley Park deemed the forward as offside.
The lines were out again, and the stitching of Watkins shirt was essentially thought to be offside – in one of the closest calls to date.
Regardless of Watkins’ arm being millimetres offside, the striker had the chance to go down. Ogbonna was on the verge of strangling Watkins, restricting his darting run into the area. VAR decided to focus on the offside call instead.
If Watkins goes down, it’s a stone wall penalty.
Regardless, a defensively disciplined display by West Ham propels them to fifth in the league table on 17 points.
The Hammers have triumphed in their last three matches. They look to go four unbeaten when they host Manchester United on Saturday.
Despite the result, Villa can take a lot away from Monday night’s performance. Two goals coming from a lack of concentration let the visitors down in the end.
By Ben Haywood
Follow @BenHaywood01
