West Ham cope with Zouma’s no-show while Foxes’ failings laid bare again

Trouble with defenders has been the defining theme of the season so far for Leicester, but in the run-up to the visit of West Ham, Brendan Rodgers was offered a kind of comfort – in the form of a reminder that things could, in theory, have been worse. All of the many players he has had to use in defence have made costly mistakes in this campaign, sometimes several times in the same match. But none have featured in home movies involving a tormented cat. So there’s that.

Much of Leicester’s chronic instability can be traced back to the injury suffered in pre-season by Wesley Fofana, the precocious Frenchman who quickly became fundamental to Leicester after joining from Saint-Étienne as a 19-year-old in 2020. Fofana continues to make his way back from the leg break inflicted in an August friendly and may return to full training this month. Whenever he is fit enough to regain his place, he will be welcomed back warmly.

Related: Craig Dawson saves the day for West Ham with late leveller at Leicester

There was no such welcome on Sunday for West Ham’s Kurt Zouma, just boos when the stadium announcer read out his name. Another player to arrive in English football from Saint-Étienne as a 19-year-old, the Frenchman has played in the Premier League for four clubs over the past eight years and generally been regarded as a decent, dependable centre-half, apt to head a goal from a set-piece but otherwise unlikely to inflame passions. And then came that outrageous, ludicrous, sad video. Suddenly Zouma is a public enemy, an ex-cat owner and embarrassment to his club.

West Ham fined him but chose not to drop him. On Friday David Moyes appealed for the player to be shown “a little bit of forgiveness” and to be allowed to learn and