Leicester v West Ham: Flying Foxes can have a blast against West Ham

 Leicester v West Ham: Flying Foxes can have a blast against West Ham

Andrew Atherley expects another high-scoring win for Leicester in their home match on Sunday...

Leicester v West Ham
Sunday 4 October, 12:00
Live on BT Sport

High-scoring start

Both teams are coming off high-scoring wins in the Premier League and Leicester's was the most eyecatching with their comeback from 1-0 down to record a 5-2 victory at Manchester City.

The hosts' defensive holes had a bearing on the result but it was the third clear-cut league win for Leicester this season following their victories against West Brom (3-0 away) and Burnley (4-2 at home) and they are top of the early table.

Brendan Rodgers had some injury worries after the City win with Jamie Vardy substituted near the end with a recurrence of a hip injury and Dennis Praet also going off with a twisted knee. Both have to prove their fitness but Rodgers was upbeat during the week.

A positive is that James Maddison, who came on to score a spectacular goal at City, may be ready for his first start of the season as he eases his way back from injury.

Onyinye Ndidi is unlikely to return in midfield until around Christmas time.

Hammers hit form

West Ham lost their first two league games against Newcastle (2-0 at home) and Arsenal (2-1 away) but they quietened the rumblings of discontent with last week's surprise 4-0 home win over Wolves.

That was followed by a 4-1 defeat at Everton in their midweek Carabao Cup tie but it was excusable to some extent considering that the hosts put out much more of a first-string line-up.

David Moyes will be judged above all on the Hammers' league form and the Wolves win did not exactly come out of nowhere because his side had been much improved at Arsenal in their previous match.

Moyes is likely to stick as close as possible to the starting XI from the last league match but he will have to make a change at right-back after Ryan Fredericks went off a hamstring injury in the Wolves win. Moyes moved to plug the gap by signing Vladimir Coufal from Slavia Prague for just over £5m on Friday, although Ben Johnson is likely to step in for now.

Leicester strong at home

Leicester have found their form again following their tailing off in the second half of last season, which included a failure to improve during the restart following the three-month break.

It is possible they are an early-season team under Rodgers because their record to the end of September last season was W4 D2 L2 and this season they have added three wins out of three.

Their form kept going well into December last season, though, and they merit strong favouritism here at 1.68. They delivered the win in the first six home matches where they were odds-on last season, the first failure coming with the 1-1 against Norwich on December 14.

Their home form did not seem quite the same again after that but they still finished last season with a W9 D2 L1 home record against teams below the top eight and it is fair to say their opening home win against Burnley this season falls into the same category.

It is likely this match does too, despite the promising signs West Ham have shown against Arsenal and especially Wolves.

The Hammers still have a poor away record of W1 D2 L7 in their second stint under Moyes in the Premier League, including a 4-1 defeat at Leicester in January, and that will need to improve significantly for them to get any higher than mid-table.

Only three of the seven defeats were by more than a goal, though, which indicates the Hammers might be able to stay closer to Leicester than they did last time.

In the win markets a bet to consider is Leicester to win with over 2.5 goals at 2.94.

That was the outcome in seven of their nine home wins last season against teams below the top eight and again in this season's opening home win over Burnley.

King Power for goals

As indicated, Leicester rank high for home goals with 58% of their games at the King Power having over 2.5 goals last season.

So far this season all three of their matches have gone over 2.5 goals and clearly that is the most likely outcome when they are on song.

West Ham were the mirror image of that last season on the road, with under 2.5 goals in 58% of their away games.

Since Moyes returned, there has been an even split of over/under 2.5 goals in their away games.

The pick would have to be over 2.5 goals at 1.68.

Opta Stat

West Ham have won just four of their 23 away Premier League games under David Moyes (D5 L14), although one of those was a 2-0 win at Leicester in May 2018. West Ham are 38.00 for another 2-0 win.