At the back of a historic win over Manchester City during the previous week, Leicester City were brimming with confidence as they welcomed West Ham United at the King Power stadium during the game week four of the 2020/21 Premier League season. The Foxes had made a rip-roaring start to the league campaign after scoring a staggering 12 goals in just three games, as they sat atop in the league table before this game.
The Hammers, on the other end, have had a seesaw start to the season. While the first two league games ended in defeats, the East London team netted nine times combined in the next two fixtures to secure consecutive wins. As the balance seemed to shift yet again during the midweek when they were grounded by a 4-1 defeat against Everton in the EFL cup, David Moyes’ side responded in style by springing a surprisingly dominating 3-0 away victory over the high-flying Leicester side. With this win, the away side continued their good form against stronger sides and ended Leicester’s four-game unbeaten run against them.
In this tactical analysis, we will analyse the tactics that were used by both the managers. We will also do an analysis of Leicester’s poor attacking and West Ham’s powerful defensive performances.
Lineups
David Moyes expectedly stuck to the 5-4-1 formation that has improved the balance and performance of his West Ham side in the recent games. He too was forced to make one personnel change as Ryan Fredericks injury paved the way for the debut of the new £5.4m right-back Vladimír Coufal.
Leicester’s structure
Albeit the home side were lined up in a 3-4-2-1 formation on paper, their shape varied in different phases of the game. Starting with the build-up, Rodgers’ men had two different systems to use in the first phase. The most widely used system was the 3-4-3 where the wing-backs pushed into the midfield line and provided the width during the initial phase. As the ball progressed into the attacking third, they continued to provide width while pushing higher into the attacking line. This allowed Harvey Barnes and Pérez to play more centrally behind Jamie Vardy.
Anothe
