Leicester vs West Ham match report: Leonardo Ulloa ensures Jamie Vardy red card is not fully punished
Leicester 2 West Ham 2: Andy Carroll and Aaron Cresswell put West Ham in the lead following Vardy's opener and subsequent red card, put Ulloa scored from the penalty spot deep into injury time
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Your support makes all the difference.So now we have a title race and however it ends, the contribution of referee Jon Moss to this incredible draw between Leicester and West Ham will prove substantially more than a footnote to this unforgettable Premier League campaign.
Leonardo Ulloa’s equaliser from the penalty spot, four minutes into stoppage time, moved Leicester eight points clear of Tottenham ahead of the London club’s trip to Stoke on Monday, but it was the third contentious incident of a game dominated by the West Yorkshire-based official.
Aaron Cresswell’s stunning 86th minute strike, a curling effort from the edge of the Leicester penalty area, looked to have been the moment which secured the points for West Ham after Andy Carroll had levelled from the penalty spot three minutes earlier.
Carroll’s penalty, following a seemingly innocuous tangle between Wes Morgan and Winston Reid, prompted fury within the King Power Stadium in the wake of Moss’s decision to dismiss Jamie Vardy for diving – the Leicester forward’s second yellow of the game – following a tangle with Angelo Ogbonna on 57 minutes appeared harsh.
But just as Cresswell’s goal looked set to deliver a heavy blow to Leicester’s title ambitions, Moss struck again in stoppage time by awarding the home side a penalty after Jeffrey Schlupp had gone to ground following a Carroll challenge.
It was another debatable decision, but Ulloa converted from the spot to rescue Claudio Ranieri’s team. How significant it will prove to be, only time will tell.
For all of the disbelief that has accompanied Leicester’s remarkable rise to the top of the table, the statistics dispel any notion of their ascent being a fluke.
Ranieri’s team went into this game on the back of five successive league wins, with no goals conceded in any of them, and a run of six wins in seven since their stoppage time defeat at Arsenal on Valentine’s Day.
They have ground out results in the manner of prospective champions and, even if the entertainment value has diminished in recent weeks as a result of the tension of the run-in, Leicester have continued to win games with determination and match-winning flashes of flair from Vardy, Riyad Mahrez and Shinji Okazaki.
As a result, the finishing line is looming large on the horizon and that has prompted interest in Leicester fixtures to shoot through the roof – some supporters have been quoted £15,000 for tickets to see the final home game of the season – and possible trophy presentation – against Everton on May 7.
For a club unaccustomed to such profiteering and exploitation of supporters, the banner unfurled by the home fans prior to the game, which read ‘Touts Out,’ summed up the feelings towards those attempting to cash in on Leicester’s fairytale.
That is the downside of success, however, and it will not disappear anytime soon if the likes of Real Madrid or Bayern Munich arrive at the King Power Stadium for Champions League fixtures next season.
But despite the touts and the scarves and t-shirts being sold outside the ground proclaiming Leicester as the ‘People’s Champions,’ there was still work to be done on the pitch and West Ham’s pursuit of Champions League qualification ensured that Slaven Bilic’s team would be anything but a soft touch at the King Power Stadium.
Having seen their FA Cup ambitions ended by Manchester United in midweek, West Ham needed to win this game to retain any realistic hope of a top four finish and they were full of spirit and determination from the outset.
The game was less than two minutes old when Chiekhou Kouyate emphasised West Ham’s hunger for victory by forcing Kasper Schmeichel into a stunning save from a close range header.
Schmeichel tipped the ball onto the post, only to see it roll along the line and hit the other post before bouncing to safety.
It was a warning shot, as were the early West Ham bookings for a series of robust challenges, but Leicester held their nerve and saw Robert Huth head wide from six yards before Vardy opened the scoring on 18 minutes.
And it was a typical Vardy goal, made by the England forward’s pace and Leicester’s ability to hit hard on te counter attack.
The move began with Schmeichel’s throw to Mahrez, who laid the ball off to N’Golo Kante inside the centre-circle.
Kante then moved the ball onto Vardy in the penalty area, with the striker taking a touch to control before guiding a left-foot strike beyond goalkeeper Adrian and into the far corner for his 22nd league goal of the season.
It all seemed so straightforward at that point, but the second-half saw the game turned on its head by Moss.
Leicester deserved the point secured by Ulloa, and it summed up their fighting spirit, but Moss will not look back fondly on this ninety minutes.
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