West Ham United continued their incredible momentum towards the Champions League with a 3-2 win over Leicester City to usurp both Liverpool and Chelsea.
With vice-captain Declan Rice watching from the stands and Michail Antonio recovering from a hamstring injury, it was Jesse Lingard who once again proved to be the catalyst for the Hammers.
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West Ham United have taken control of the race to Europe
In front of England boss Gareth Southgate, Lingard hit a soft half volley that passed stoic Kasper Schmeichel to open the scoring at London Stadium.
Playing ahead of Mark Noble in his 400th Premier League appearance, the Manchester United lender was then on hand to tap into an empty net after Jarrod Bowen grabbed a long ball above the summit and put it to the selflessly squared as Schmeichel walked forward.
With James Maddison, Ayoze Perez and Hamza Choudhury completely absent from the squad, Foxes boss Brendan Rodgers had limited options to call from the bench at the break and the situation quickly escalated.
West Ham squeezed the visitors to the top of the field and this proved to be beneficial once again as Arthur Masuaku jumped on a loose ball and found Lingard on the edge of the box, knocking him out to Tomas Soucek and he then found Bowen in the box to crush him. At the back of the net.
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Jesse Lingard scored twice and played an important role in West Ham’s third goal
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Kelechi Iheanacho scored a consolation for the Foxes at London Stadium
It could have been a hammer blow just before the hour mark when Issa Diop returned home after Lingard’s cross, but the VAR correctly dismissed the strike after the linesman failed to spot his movement in offside position.
Rodgers desperately tried to save the day by throwing Marc Albrighton in hopes he could provide Jamie Vardy a chance to end his 17-goal drought.
Leicester managed to find a consolation goal thanks to Kelechi Iheanacho after a mistake by Masuaku gave the in-form forward a glorious 18-yard opportunity, which he duly seized.
The Hammers, who led 3-0 against Arsenal and Wolves before conceding in their previous two games, then gave themselves another nervous end when Iheanacho smashed his second at home after an excellent cross from Albrighton.
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David Moyes could lead Hammers in Champions League
Wesley Fofana then led one last chance as West Ham hung on to inflict just a second out-of-season loss to the Foxes.
David Moyes could well lead the East End side to the Champions League for the first time in their history.
With Newcastle United away from their next game and arguably the most favorable run-in of any team heading into the first European competition, the Hammers could well face the continent’s best next season.
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