Leicester City Vs. West Ham United Prediction: Waiting For Ruud Van Nistelrooy's Work At King Power

Ruud van Nistelrooy debuted with Leicester City to host West Ham United (photo: x @LCFC)

JAKARTA - Era Ruud van Nistelrooy started at the King Power Stadium on Tuesday night, December 3 when Leicester City host West Ham United who are also struggling at the bottom of the Premier League standings.

Both teams are trying to fix the defeat they suffered on the weekend. Leicester were beaten 4-1 by Brentford on Saturday, November 30, hours before Julen Lopetegui and his team, West Ham United, were humiliated with a 5-2 defeat to Arsenal.

On November 3, 2024, Manchester United's interim manager, Ruud van Nistelrooy, saw Leicester City humiliated 4-1 by Brentford during the match at the Gtech Community Stadium. Although Leicester had taken the lead through Facundo Buonanotte's goal, Brentford managed to turn things around with the first hat-trick of Kevin Schade's career.

This big defeat is the third in a row for Leicester, who was previously also beaten by Chelsea and Manchester United at the end of Steve Cooper's leadership. Now, with Leicester only one point ahead of the relegation zone, Van Nistelrooy is faced with a big task of improving a fragile defense.

On the other hand, West Ham United suffered a crushing 5-2 defeat to Arsenal last Saturday. Despite scoring two goals to reduce the gap, West Ham could not avoid a big defeat. The team coached by Julen Lopetegui is now ranked 14th and vulnerable to the threat of relegation. Their last win was far behind, when they beat Newcastle United.

Leicester City experienced defensive problems last Saturday, with Caleb Okoli who was injured after colliding with goalkeeper Mads Hermansen. Okoli's presence in this match is still doubtful.

Apart from Okoli, Leicester will also not be strengthened by Abdul Fatawu (ACL injury), Harry Winks (feet injury), Ricardo Pereira ( thigh injury), and Jakub Stolarczyk ( ankle injury). Van Nistelrooy is expected to field Jannik Vestergaard to replace Okoli in the defense.

In the match against Brentford, Dawson chose to play three centre-backs, but Van Nistelrooy prefers to use a four-back formation and will likely field Conor Coady from the starting line-up to include additional players in midfield or attackers.

Victor Kristiansen is also expected to return to fill the left-back position after the absence, while Bobby Decordova-Reid or capy Mavidi will have the opportunity to play wider as part of the change in the system. In attack, Van Nistelrooy is likely to field Jordan Ayew, Facundo Buonanotte, and Jamie Vardy, the latter has not scored against West Ham since 2019.

Meanwhile, West Ham will get a big boost with Mohammed Kudus' return after a five-match suspension. Kudus is expected to head straight back to the main lineup. Cisencio Summerville, who performed poorly in the match against Arsenal, may be replaced by Kudus, and there is a possibility Niclas Fullkrug (pickless) could also return to play.

Player Composition Forecast:

Leicester City (Probably Line-up): Hermansen; Justin, Faes, Vestergaard, Kristiansen; Ndidi, Soumare; Decordova-Reid, Buonanotte, Ayew; Vardy

West Ham United (Probabilities Line-up):Areola; Wan-Bissaka, Todibo, Kilman, Emerson; Alvarez; Bowen, Soler, Paqueta, Kudus; Antonio

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