Background
West Ham United get their home slate of Barclays Premier League matches underway on Saturday with the visit of Leicester City.
The 3pm kick-off is an early-season top of the table clash, with Leicester’s 4-2 victory over Sunderland last weekend leaving them second in the embryonic table. West Ham are fourth after defeating Arsenal 2-0.
The Foxes are in their second season back in the top flight, after completing a remarkable escape last season with a fine run of form, kick-started by their 2-1 victory over the Hammers in April.
Since then Leicester have changed managers, with former Chelsea boss Claudio Ranieri the man now in the King Power Stadium hotseat.
Last year’s top performer Esteban Cambiasso has left the Club, but the likes of Mainz striker Shinji Okazaki, Stoke defender Robert Huth and Caen midfielder N’Golo Kante have all signed up over the summer.
The history
West Ham and Leicester have met on 123 occasions in competitive action, the Hammers winning 51 and losing 43 of those matches.
Leicester’s victory over West Ham in April was their first in eight attempts against West Ham, with the Londoners enjoying the better of the head-to-head in recent times.
The Hammers have won the last two Boleyn Ground meetings, 2-0 last season and 3-2 back in October 2011.
The Foxes have spent all of their history – apart from one season – in the top two divisions, and are now in their fourth stint in the Premier League, having lifted the Championship title in 2013/14.
Match info
Team news
West Ham United
The Hammers could call upon midfielder Pedro Obiang after the summer signing returned to training this week following injury.
Carl Jenkinson is also available after being ineligible to face parent club Arsenal last week, so Slaven Bilic could be tempted to make a change to his backline.
Joey O’Brien (hamstring), Enner Valencia (leg) and Andy Carroll (knee) are all out.
Leicester City
Matty James is out with a knee injury, but otherwise Claudio Ranieri has a fully fit squad to choose from.
Shinji Okazaki was the only one of Leicester’s new signings to start last week so could feature again alongside Jamie Vardy.
Match facts
- The Hammers have won seven of their eight home Premier League games against Leicester, while the Foxes lost all six of their matches in London last term.
- West Ham are looking to win consecutive games in the Premier League for the first time in 2015.
- Leicester City have won 25 points since the start of April 2015, which is four more than any other Premier League side.
- Both West Ham and Leicester are looking to win their opening two games of a Premier League season for the first time since 1997-98.
Tickets, coverage, travel and weather news
- Tickets for Saturday’s game have sold out. However, they may become available online as Season Ticket Holders relist.
- Saturday is Claret and Blue day, so wear your colours to the game, tweet your pictures using #ClaretAndBlueDay and look out for our celebrations.
- Follow the game with live updates and audio on whufc.com, and get involved in the conversation on social using #WHULEI
- There are no closures on the District and Hammersmith & City lines serving Upton Park on Saturday. Click here for Tube updates and here for National Rail.
- Sunny intervals are predicted on Saturday with a maximum temperature of 20C (68F).