Youthful Foxes Put Three Past West Ham In PL2
Tyrese Shade, Fousseni Diabaté and Callum Elder all struck for the Foxes during a hugely impressive opening 22-minute spell to seal a fourth league success of the season.
City’s line-up featured three changes from the 1-0 defeat by Tottenham Hotspur last week with Yohan Benalouane, Diabaté and Khanya Leshabela coming in.
A speedy start from the hosts paid immediate dividends as Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall laid it up for Shade to drag it back across the goalmouth and into Nathen Trott’s far corner.
It was the result of smart build-up play involving Elder and Leshabela on the left flank, before Dewsbury-Hall helped the ball along and into the grateful reach of Shade to fire home.
The Foxes doubled their advantage in the 19th minute as it fell to Diabaté to firmly slot it beyond Trott in the Hammers' net before Elder’s first strike of the 2018/19 season.
Goals: Leicester City U23s 3 West Ham United U23s 0
Watch all the goals as the Development Squad enjoyed a 3-0 victory over West Ham United at Holmes Park on Friday evening.
City’s Australian full back raced into the box and, at the second attempt, confidently volleyed it into the back of the net to send the hosts into the interval with a deserved three-goal lead.
Following the break, Leicester continued to press with Shade forcing Trott into a decent low save within minutes of the restart while Elder also headed over on the hour-mark.
In an expressive performance, typical of their 2017/18 fortunes, the Development Squad were enjoying their football on the immaculate Holmes Park pitch.
Benalouane, too, almost added his name to the scoresheet with 20 minutes remaining, but his hopeful header drifted wide of the near post.
Ryan Loft and Callum Wright were introduced in the latter moments, replacing Diabaté and Shade, but the Foxes were unable to add to their already sizeable goals tally.
Who impressed?
With a string of injuries limiting City’s attacking options in recent weeks, this fixture was an opportunity for Tyrese Shade to shine for the Club’s Under-23s.
His third goal of the season ultimately put Leicester on course for a fourth league victory and required a calm head with several West Ham defenders around him in the box.
Where does it leave us?
Following this result, the Club’s Development Squad rise to third in Premier League 2 Division 1 with 14 points, two adrift of leaders Arsenal.
Coming up…
The Foxes welcome Feyenoord to Holmes Park in the Premier League International Cup on Tuesday night (7pm GMT kick-off). LCFC.com is the place for a report and highlights next week.
The details…
City: Johansson, Pascanu, Benalouane, Knight, Elder, Johnson (c), Dewsbury-Hall, King, Shade (Wright 85), Diabaté (Loft 78), Leshabela (Kaba Sherif 90)
Subs not used: Davies, Ughelumba
Goals: Shade 4, Diabaté 19, Elder 21
Attendance: 254