Leicester v West Ham: A Super Sunday shootout from the KP
Underperforming Leicester take on Champions League-chasing West Ham in Super Sunday's highlight. Mark O'Haire highlights the betting value.
Leicester fall short at Anfield
Leicester responded to their humbling and humiliating FA Cup exit at the hands of East Midland rivals Nottingham Forest with a spirited 2-0 defeat against Liverpool at Anfield on Thursday night. Familiar frailties were on show with Diogo Jota scoring in each half to secure the points but the Foxes did at least provide a performance of commitment and work-rate.
Brendan Rodgers made five changes for the midweek match, dropping the likes of Caglar Soyuncu and Youri Tielemans, however, City still conceded an 18th goal from a set-piece situation to fall behind and never looked like recovering thereafter. In fact, Leicester managed just one on-target attempt and lost the shot count 22-5 on Merseyside.
Still, Rodgers felt his team 'restored pride' with their efforts. He said: "We showed some real moments of quality and we took a top team right until the end. It was much more like us. Tactically, we were good in the game and organised. My only disappointment was that we lacked that little bit of care and precision in the final third."
West Ham return to winning ways
West Ham returned to winning ways in the Premier League on Tuesday night and kept their top-four hopes alive with a narrow 1-0 home victory against struggling Watford at the London Stadium. Chances were at a premium in a dour first half, with Said Benrahma striking the post in the best opportunity but things opened up after the interval.
Jarrod Bowen eventually broke the deadlock with his sixth goal in as many games - a long-range strike which struck Samir on its way past Watford goalkeeper Ben Foster. And Bowen almost doubled his and West Ham's tally late on with a fierce left-footed strike, only for Foster to divert the ball on to the post. Victory halted the Irons' two-game losing streak.
The match was marred by David Moyes' surprise decision to start Kurt Zouma despite video emerging of the France international kicking his pet cat across the floor and slapping it in the face. The Hammers boss preferred to focus on the football after fining the defender two weeks wages, but further repercussions and a potential ban may yet arrive from the FA.
Market favours the Hammers
Nevertheless, The Foxes' best efforts have arrived at their King Power base (W5-D2-L4) despite already facing-off against eight of the current top-10.
West Ham 2.44 have posted W5-D2-L6 since November's international break, but the majority of the Irons' mishaps have come against the league's elite. David Moyes' men boast an excellent W9-D2-L2 return against bottom-half dwellers this season, and also boast an encouraging W6-D2-L0 effort when travelling to teams below the top-eight.
Goals forecast for Super Sunday
Goals have to be an angle of interest at the King Power Stadium on Sunday. Leicester's fixtures have featured the highest goals per-game rate in the division and the Foxes' rotten defensive record, combined with their capable frontline, has led to a gluttony of high-scoring matches.
Leicester have scored in all bar four of their 21 league dates, yet kept just three shutouts in the same sequence. The hosts have seen 67% of their outings land for Over 2.5 Goals backers with Both Teams To Score selections also paying-out in 67% of encounters. Combining Over 2.5 Goals and Both Teams To Score gives us a handsome 1.81 shot.
Meetings between the pair have tended to be goal-laden - the last seven have seen an average of 3.86 goals.
With West Ham firing blanks just five times in 24 tussles, and four of their six shutouts arriving against the bottom-five, the scene should be set for an entertaining shootout in the East Midlands on Super Sunday.
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