- West Ham thought they had equalised in the second half against Leicester
- The goal was ruled out, and some fans have slammed the referee’s decision
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West Ham were left cursing their luck after having an equaliser controversially chalked off in their Premier League clash with Leicester City on Tuesday night.
Having fallen behind to an early Jamie Vardy goal, Julen Lopetegui’s created plenty of opportunities to get back into the game and thought they had when the ball looped up into the air and Leicester goalkeeper Mads Hermansen missed his punch under pressure from Tomas Soucek before the ball landed in the goal.
The away fans began to celebrate, but their euphoria was cut short by the referee’s whistle. VAR checked the decision and decided to stick with the on-field call, much to the dismay of Soucek and his team-mates.
Replays suggested that it was a harsh call on West Ham, with Soucek appearing to make very little contact with Hermansen, and things got worse for the visitors just seconds later.
Within a minute, Leicester burst up the other end and Kasey McAteer squared the ball for Bilal El Khannous to fire home and double his side’s advantage.
That goal gave Ruud van Nistelrooy’s team breathing space in his first game in charge, but fans online were convinced that West Ham had been hard done by.
West Ham had a goal controversially ruled out in the second half of their clash with Leicester
Tomas Soucek insisted he did nothing wrong but VAR stuck with the referee’s on-field call
It proved a crucial moment as Leicester went on to win 3-1 in Ruud van Nistelrooy’s first game
‘West Ham absolutely robbed there. Dogs*** goal keeping. Never a foul and then a minute later it’s 2-0 Leicester,’ one fan posted on X.
‘How that’s not a goal for West Ham is beyond me, Leicester keeper jumps into his own man,’ another supporter added.
That 60-second period appeared to knock the stuffing out of West Ham as they conceded a third goal in the final minute of normal time when substitute Patson Daka smashed the ball into the roof of the net after being played through on goal.
Niclas Fullkrug came off the bench to net a stoppage-time consolation but it was too little too late as West Ham slipped to a disappointing defeat on the road.
The result lifted Leicester up to 15th in the table, and they are now four points clear of the bottom three.
West Ham are just a place and two points better off, with the pressure mounting on Lopetegui.
