February 13, (THEWILL) – Leicester City drew 2-2 with West Ham at the King Power Stadium on Sunday, with Craig Dawson scoring a disputed last-minute equaliser.
Kurt Zouma, who remains at the core of the storm surrounding the video of him kicking and slapping his cat, withdrew in the warm-up owing to ‘sickness’. Issa Diop was drafted into the Hammers’ starting lineup as a result.
Just ten minutes into the game, Zouma’s substitute made an immediate impact, sweeping a long ball over the top to Jarrod Bowen, who was in fine form. The winger sped through on goal and slammed a low finish past Kasper Schmeichel into the bottom corner.
The rest of the first half was dominated by West Ham, and Leicester never looked like equalising. That is, until Aaron Cresswell inexplicably handled from a corner in first-half stoppage time, giving them an excellent opportunity to do so.
Youri Tielemans took the penalty and sent it past Lukasz Fabianski to draw the Foxes level.
The second half saw a role reversal, with Leicester in control, buoyed by their equaliser shortly before the break. Harvey Barnes was the driving force behind most of the forward movement the Foxes accomplished, and 10 minutes in, he blasted a low pass across the face of goal, but no one was there to finish.
Just a minute later, Barnes provided the assist when his cross was met by Ricardo Pereira, who fired the ball into the top corner with a soaring header. The England international was involved once more when he cut the ball back for Tielemans, but the Belgian’s first-time shot went just over the bar.
Leicester appeared to be on the verge of a major comeback victory, but in the final minute of normal time, Dawson leapt highest to meet Bowen’s corner and head the ball into the net. The ball appeared to have come off the defender’s upper arm on replays, but a VAR review determined that it was not a handball and the goal stood.
A draw was a result that neither team wanted, but had to accept. West Ham have moved a point clear of Manchester United, despite the fact that the rest of the competition has at least one game in hand on David Moyes’ side, who are currently in the final Champions League berth.
Leicester, meanwhile, have moved up to 11th place, putting a 10-point difference between themselves and Norwich, who are currently in 18th place.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
