West Ham United may have been without Ant and Dec but they still helped themselves to a Sunday afternoon takeaway at London Stadium, where another wonderful win lifted them back into fourth-spot with seven games left to play.
Shrugging off the fact that Michail Antonio (hamstring) and Declan Rice (knee) are ruled out of action for the foreseeable future, David Moyes men simply got on with the job as they followed up October’s electrifying 3-0 victory at King Power Stadium with another dynamic, determined and defiant display that kept their Champions League dreams alive.
But just as they had done in their two previous matches against Arsenal and Wolverhampton Wanderers, West Ham United raced into another three-goal lead before finding themselves hanging on for dear life.
Jesse Lingard had struck twice before the break to take his tally to an enormous eight goals in nine matches since his arrival on loan from Manchester United at the end of January and when Jarrod Bowen netted for the third successive game just after the restart, the Hammers looked home and hosed.
But just as an edgy East End had seen in those last two encounters, Moyes boys do not make things easy for themselves these days and two goals from Kelechi Iheanacho set up a frantic finale before they finally got across the line with three precious points.
Following Easter Monday’s equally nail-biting victory at Wolves, the Hammers made just one enforced switch as Bowen came in for Antonio, while Rice’s continued absence meant that skipper Mark Noble made his 400th Premier League appearance.
After two minutes silence to mark the passing of HRH Prince Phillip, Duke of Edinburgh, Iheanacho unleashed the opening salvos of the afternoon with two long-rangers before Noble’s central midfield partner, Tomáš Souček was booked for lunge on Youri Tielemans.
Despite their defeat to champions-elect Manchester City last time out, the high-flying Foxes had still kicked-off in third-spot – three places and four points above the equally high-riding Hammers.
There had been much pre-match speculation over the mysterious absence of the seemingly fit trio - James Maddison, Hamza Choudhury and Ayoze Pérez - who each missed out altogether as Brendan Rodgers recalled Ricardo Pereira and Dennis Praet in place of the Spaniard and substitute Marc Albrighton.
In reply to those early City attempts, Arthur Masuaku – the only player on the pitch not to have taken the knee at kick-off – crossed to the far post, where the sliding Bowen collided painfully into the woodwork without making contact with the ball.
On 28 minutes, though, another deep Masuaku centre from the left produced a much better outcome for everyone in Claret and Blue, when Vladimír Coufal picked up the pieces on the opposite flank.
The Czech Republic right-back instinctively cut the ball back to the edge of the 18-yard line, where the inrushing Lingard curled a low, first-time volley inside the base of the flat-footed Kasper Schmeichel’s left-hand post in front of watching England manager Gareth Southgate.
Following bookings for Aaron Cresswell and Pereira for respective fouls on Iheanacho and Pablo Fornals, Coufal then found himself breaking clear from halfway but with the whites of Schmeichel’s eyes coming into his sights, the defender curiously opted to pass rather than shoot and the unsuspecting Lingard could only scuff his shot into the ‘keeper’s clutches.
But a minute before the interval another break resulted in a much more certain and confident outcome for West Ham, when Bowen raced onto Issa Diop’s punt forward and with Schmeichel helplessly-exposed, the Hammers No.20 unselfishly squared to the supporting Lingard who swept the ball into an empty net to claim that eighth goal of the campaign, following a VAR review for an offside in the build-up.
With Wesley Forfana being booked in the dying moments of the first-half, Wilfred Ndidi also received a yellow card seconds after a restart that had seen Luke Thomas replace Daniel Amartey and, with Leicester’s afternoon deteriorating rapidly, the Hammers then found themselves taking a three-goal lead for the third successive game.
On 48 minutes, Masuaku won possession in the visitors half before finding the quick-thinking Lingard, who slipped the ball to Souček and the Czech powerhouse played in Bowen, who took his own tally to eight for the season, when he bundled home from six yards as Fofana fruitlessly slid-in to challenge.
Diop then headed in Lingard’s cross but a VAR review ruled the Frenchman offside and there was more pain for fellow defender Cresswell, who hobbled away to be replaced by Fabián Balbuena.
But just as the Hammers made life difficult for themselves and their followers after going 3-0 ahead in those previous two matches, a feeling of dejá-vu swept across Stratford, when Pereira robbed an over-casual Masuaku before feeding Iheanacho who fired an unstoppable 18-yarder beyond the diving Łukasz Fabiański.
That set up another nervous finish as the Hammers defence suddenly found themselves on the back foot with the Polish keeper bravely diving into the studs of both Perieira and Jamie Vardy, while the fresh legs of Ben Johnson and Saïd Benrahma replaced Noble and Bowen.
One minute into the half-dozen added by referee Mike Dean, Tielemans played in the overlapping Albrighton, whose low right-wing cross into the six-yard box was inevitably lashed home by Iheanacho to set-up that frantic finale which saw Schmeichel appearing in the Hammers penalty area more than his own.
Clinging on for their lives, West Ham somehow survived to hear a final whistle that signalled the victory that saw them move to within just one point of the crestfallen Foxes and now Moyes men head to Newcastle United next Saturday lunchtime looking to continue their quest to bring European football back to the East End next season.
West Ham United: Fabiański, Coufal, Masuaku, Cresswell (Balbuena 52), Diop, Dawson, Noble (Johnson 82), Souček, Fornals, Lingard, Bowen (Benrahma 84).
Unused subs: Martin, Trott, Alves, Fredericks, Odubeko, Coventry.
Leicester City: Schmeichel, Amartey (Thomas h/t), Fofana, Evans, Castagne, Ndidi, Praet (Albrighton 59), Tielemans, Pereira, Iheanacho, Vardy.
Unused subs: Ward, Mendy, Fuchs, Leshabela, Daley-Campbell, Tavares, Suenchitthawon.
Booked: Souček (10), Cresswell (30), Pereira (33), Fofana (45+1), Ndidi (47), Masuaku (90+2).
Referee: Mike Dean
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