Noble sees red as Leicester steal late point

Gritty West Ham secured a vital point in their relegation battle after playing almost an hour with 10 men following Mark Noble’s fifth red card of his long career.

Noble was dismissed by Michael Oliver for a poor, studs-up challenge on Wilfried Ndidi just eight minutes after his side had taken the lead on the half-hour through Fabian Balbuena.

His actions left the struggling Hammers clinging to a slender lead and, to their credit, they defended well in a backs-to-the-wall second half, but Ndidi had the last laugh, with his shot taking a wicked deflection off of the West Ham goalscorer and finally beating the outstanding Lukasz Fabianski with a minute of normal time remaining to secure a 1-1 draw.

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In truth is was no more than Leicester deserved. They stated brightly and had the ball in the net after just two minutes when Kelechi Ihanacho pounced on a superb through ball from Albrighton, but the assistant referee eventually put his flag up, correctly, and the effort was ruled out.

Kelechi Iheanacho then forced the West Ham keeper to race off his line when Rachid Ghezzal poked the ball between two defenders and Albrighton dragged a shot wide following a corner.

West Ham, who looked lightweight up front without long-term casualty Andriy Yarmolenko, were also without their pivotal striker Marko Arnautovic through illness, and it was left to Javier Hernandez to plough a lone furrow up front, with Robert Snodgrass starting in an advanced role in the midfield four.

It took 12 minutes before the visitors offered something, with Felipe Anderson eventually firing a low shot from the right of the box that forced Foxes’ keeper at Kaspar Schmeichel out of his slumber.

However, despite Leicester’s bright opening, West Ham had more of the possession as the half wore on.

Robert Snodgrass, who may not be the most talented player to wear the Claret and Blue, always works hard and chased down everything. A fan-favourite, he fired well wide under pressure from Calgar Soyuncu, and then skewed across goal moments later after a mix-up in the hosts’ defence.

West Ham were convincing when they employed a more direct game and got the ball forward quickly. Arthur Masuaku almost reaped the dividends, crossing towards Hernandez, only for excellent Leicester left-back Ben Chillwell to cut the effort out with a fine saving header.

However, the warning went unheeded and Leicester went behind after 30 minutes, after Ndidi conceded a free-kick inside his own half. Felipe Anderson chipped into the box, Declan Rice headed towards Balbuena and while his first header hit the left-hand post, the ball bounced back behind Schmeichel, and the West Ham the centre-back made no mistake with his second chance, burying it from close range.

But then came Noble’s dismissal and the complexion of the game changed.

Leicester almost immediately took advantage, as James Maddison’s quick free-kick caught the Hammers sleeping and Fabianski had to make a super save from Vincente Iborra’s header. Iheanacho squandered a chance eight yards out, skewing wide and West Ham were left hanging on to the slender lead at the end of the first-half.

Foxes’ boss Claude Puel made the interesting decision to leave former England striker Jamie Vardy on the bench, but he was forced into action with Leicester a goal down at the break, replacing Ghezzal.

It was no surprise that Leicester had plenty of chances in the second half. Albrighton forced a superb double save from Fabianski and Vardy headed over from an Albrighton cross when it seemed easier to score.

When Fabianski was beaten by a Harry Maguire header with half an hour remaining, the ball clipped the top of the bar and went over.

Leicester had claims for a penalty early in the second period when Maddison went down in the box, albeit softly, but Oliver waived away the appeals. Iheanacho then saw a close-range shot glance off Pablo Zabaleta’s hand, but it would have been a harsh decision to award the spot-kick.

Yet West Ham had the clearest chance to put the game to bed with eight minutes remaining, and Angelo Ogbonna, who had come on just seconds earlier for Anderson, missed with a header from Snodgrass’s cross with the goal gaping.

It proved a very costly miss as while Vardy squandered another golden chance soon after, Ndidi came to the rescue with the late leveller.

Antonio still had time to miss a glorious chance at the other end on the break, but spurned the opportunity.

Play was held up after a horror injury to Leicester full-back Daniel Armartey, who appeared to suffer a broken leg with two minutes of normal time remaining.

And although Leicester pressed in the added seven minutes of added time, the Hammers just did enough to hold on to a point.