Leicester City’s set-piece nightmares continue against West Ham

Leicester City thought they might be heading for their first Premier League win of 2022, but then West Ham United got a corner in the last minute.

Twenty minutes into the match between Leicester City and West Ham United, one corner of The King Power Stadium was out-singing the rest. The visitors had taken an early lead at the end of a weekend when none of the other teams chasing a Champions League place had won. Animal abuse’s Kurt Zouma wasn’t on the pitch. Even on this cold, grey, wet East Midlands afternoon, there was a lot to smile about for the away fans. They had something to cheer about again by the end but it was a close call, while Leicester remain trapped in a defensive Groundhog Day.

It hasn’t been an easy week for West Ham, though much of that is self-inflicted. The decision to start Zouma against Watford was widely criticised and it was not a particularly good team performance to win that game by a goal to nil. But since then the argument has become curdled, in that way modern discourse of any nature does these days.

Leicester’s woes are of a different nature. They hadn’t won since the end of December, and even though they’d only played three league games this year (against Liverpool, Spurs and Brighton), five weeks is a long time to go without a win. The nature of their defeat to Nottingham Forest was also… problematic.

Leicester are currently the worst defensive team in the Premier League based on Expected Goals Against (xGA).

Since Infogol started collecting xG data in 2014, no team has possessed a worst defensive process. None. Not even relegated teams.#LCFC pic.twitter.com/shYQrIVS9B

— Sporting Life Football & Infogol (@InfogolApp) February 13, 2022

Before kick-off at the King Power in the Sky Sports