Leicester City v West Ham United
Premier League, King Power Stadium, Tuesday 3 December 2024, 8.15pm GMT
West Ham United start a busy December schedule with an away Premier League contest against Leicester City, looking for a strong reaction to home disappointment at the hands of title-challengers Arsenal last time out.
Prior to that, the Irons had defeated Newcastle United at St James’ Park to earn their second away league win of 2024/25, and Head Coach Julen Lopetegui will be hoping for a similar result on Tuesday night in arguably their most important run of fixtures as the Premier League begins to really take shape across the next few weeks.
Our opponents have won just two of their opening 13 Premier League matches and are 16th in the table, one point outside of the bottom three.
However, Tuesday marks the start of the Ruud van Nistelrooy era at Leicester. The 48-year-old Dutchman arrived at King Power Stadium just two-and-a-half weeks after leaving Manchester United following his spell as their interim head coach and replaced Steve Cooper, who was sacked by Leicester after just 12 league matches in charge.
Former Red Devils and Real Madrid forward van Nistelrooy was given plenty to ponder as he witnessed the Foxes fumble a one-goal lead from the stands at the Gtech Community Stadium in a 4-1 defeat against Brentford on Saturday.
All signs point to an enticing match-up at King Power Stadium then, with both teams fully looking to get back on track and gain some much-needed momentum to kickstart the busy festive period.
Tickets…
West Ham fans are advised that the Club’s allocation of 3,287 tickets have sold out.
The first 90 per cent of tickets sold out to Bondholders and Season Ticket Holders with 15+ Loyalty Points. The remaining ten per cent (328 tickets) were then made available by a ballot process to Season Ticket Holders who had yet to purchase for this fixture. The ballot closed at 12noon on Wednesday 6 November.
Travel…
It takes anything between an hour-and-ten-minutes and an hour-and-a-half to reach Leicester by rail from central London, with regular East Midlands Railway services leaving from both London St Pancras International and London Euston.
From Leicester station, it is around 45-minutes’ walk to the stadium, or you can take a taxi.
If you opt to drive, leave the northbound M1 at Junction 21 and follow the signs for the City Centre for three miles, turn right onto Upperton Road, then take the fifth exit at Liberty Statue Island onto Western Boulevard.
Parking can be purchased prior to the day of the match for £18 per car at the Club’s Filbert Street car park. To book, please call the City Sales Centre on 0344 815 5000 (Option 1). For more information about home matchday parking, please click HERE.
How To Follow…
West Ham United’s away Premier League match with Leicester City has been selected for broadcast in the United Kingdom by Amazon Prime Video.
If you live outside the UK, click HERE for details of Premier League listings in your territory.
You can follow the action via our live blog on whufc.com and our app, and across our social media channels. We will also have highlights and exclusive reaction for you after the final whistle on our website and social media.
Live audio commentary will be available in the UK on BBC Radio 5 live and worldwide on our official website and app.
Team News…
Mohammed Kudus is eligible for selection after serving a five-match suspension for the red card he picked up away at Tottenham Hotspur in October.
Defenders Dinos Mavropanos and Kaelan Casey missed Saturday's Premier League defeat against Arsenal because of a virus, while Niclas Füllkrug has missed the last ten Premier League games since he suffered an injury in his calf and Achilles area while on international duty with Germany in September, and will once again be assessed ahead of kick-off. Jean-Clair Todibo is nursing a knock sustained against the Gunners, and will similarly undergo a late fitness test.
Leicester are expected to be without Abdul Fatawu, Nathaniel Opoku, Ricardo Pereira and Jakub Stolarczyk, while midfielder Harry Winks will need to be assessed due to the groin injury he suffered in Cooper’s final match in charge.
Opposition…
Leicester City enjoyed the most incredible season in 2023/24, where they won 13 of their first 14 EFL Championship games, and looked on course to shatter Reading’s 106-point record, too, but seven defeats in the last 13 put paid to that dream, and they had to settle for 97.
Now firmly up and running back in the top flight once again, it has been a week of all change at King Power Stadium after a disappointing start to the campaign, after sealing their return at the first attempt.
There have rarely been any quiet moments at all supporting the Foxes throughout the last decade. It seems staggering that a club that won the unlikeliest of Premier League titles in 2016 as a 5000/1 shot, played in the UEFA Champions League, reached the semi-final of the UEFA Europa Conference League and lifted the FA Cup and Community Shield as recently as 2021, are embroiled in a serious relegation battle and are now onto their fourth manager in 19 months.
Cooper, who took over from former West Ham United coach Enzo Maresca in the summer after the Italian had led Leicester to the Championship title and promotion back into the Premier League, was sacked after just 12 league matches in charge with the Foxes 16th in the table.
Leicester have managed just two wins this season, in back-to-back games against Bournemouth and Southampton either side of the October international break, which had them looking upwards for the first time, but that was not the case. They went on a run of four without a win after that and, after the 2-1 defeat to Maresca’s Chelsea in November, Cooper was relieved of his duties after five months in the job and just 14 competitive games.
The Welshman was swiftly replaced by van Nistelrooy, whose arrival at Leicester has ushered in another new era at King Power Stadium. Heavily associated with Dutch giants PSV Eindhoven, van Nistelrooy lifted two major trophies at his local club during a managerial stint earlier this decade, building his coaching acumen after a glittering playing career.
The Dutchman was appointed on Friday after briefly taking caretaker charge at Manchester United earlier this season, where his four-game interim spell was bookended by two victories over the Foxes in the space of 12 days not so long ago. Evidently, the Leicester hierarchy liked what they saw, and have now handed him the reins. He’s the man entrusted to help City settle back in the Premier League and keep them up this season.
Previous Meetings…
West Ham United and Leicester City have met 32 times in the Premier League previously, with the Hammers winning 14, the Foxes eleven and seven draws.
Leicester won the last fixture at King Power Stadium in May 2023, but their nine-year stay in the Premier League came to an end as they were relegated in agonising fashion despite beating the Hammers on the final day of the season. The Foxes also won 2-0 in the reverse fixture at London Stadium through goals from England pair James Maddison and Harvey Barnes.
The Irons took four points from the Foxes the previous season, making it three wins in succession over them with a thumping 4-1 success in east London in our first home game of the campaign back in August 2021, then grabbing a dramatic 2-2 draw away from home in February 2022 thanks to Craig Dawson's added-time goal.
West Ham also did the Premier League double over Leicester in 2020/21, winning 3-0 at King Power Stadium in September 2020 and 3-2 at London Stadium in April 2021. Jarrod Bowen scored in both meetings, with Pablo Fornals and Michail Antonio also on target at King Power Stadium and Jesse Lingard hitting the net twice on home turf.
In all competitions, West Ham’s biggest-ever league win over Leicester came in the promotion-winning 1922/23 season. The Hammers thrashed the Foxes 6-0 at Filbert Street on their way to the First Division on 15 February 1923, with Billy Moore scoring a hat-trick, and fellow England internationals Jimmy Ruffell and Jack Tresadern and Wales international Dick Richards also getting their names on the scoresheet. Leicester’s biggest win over West Ham came in the First Division on 15 September 1928, when the Foxes won 5-0 at Filbert Street.
Match Officials…
Referee: Josh Smith
Assistant Referees: Tim Wood and Marc Perry
Fourth Official: Darren Bond
VAR: Neil Davies
Assistant VAR: Jarred Gillett
West Ham will return to Premier League action three days after the Arsenal clash, away to Leicester City, with Josh Smith having been confirmed as the referee for that game.
Born in Peterborough, Smith, who is one of the younger referees currently working in the Premier League and EFL, made his top-flight debut at the end of the 2022/23 season when he took charge of a game between Fulham and Crystal Palace.
Smith started refereeing in the Peterborough and District Junior Alliance League aged 14 in 2006, following in the footsteps of both his dad and grandfather, who had refereed football and rugby league respectively.
In 2015, Smith was promoted to the EFL Assistant Referee list, where he completed three years before opting to pursue a career as a referee. Successive promotions from the National League to the EFL, then Select Group 2 List of Referees ahead of the 2020/21 season, have seen him take charge of seven Premier League matches and over 100 EFL fixtures.
Tuesday’s match will be the official’s first experience of West Ham United and will be Smith's 17th fixture of the campaign.
For more information about the officials, click HERE.
