Leicester City’s chances of UEFA Champions League football next season took what could be a devastating blow on Sunday with a 3-2 defeat against West Ham.
It was an utterly desperate defensive performance from the Foxes as the Hammers hit three within 47 minutes through a Jesse Lingard brace and another from Jarrod Bowen.
Two late goals from the in-form forward Kelechi Iheanacho was not enough for Leicester to stage a dramatic comeback as they fell to just their second away league loss of the season.
Will Leicester City finish in the top four?
Yes!
Not this year…
One of the main culprits of that defeat was centre-back Daniel Amartey.
Deployed in a back three in the absence of Caglar Soyuncu, who is still in self-isolation having tested positive for COVID-19 on international duty, the Ghanaian was utterly hopeless.
The 25-cap international did not contribute a single tackle or interception according to WhoScored as the hosts were allowed to run riot in the first-half. For context, striker Iheanacho managed to rack up a tackle.
Even more disappointingly, Amartey also did not manage to produce a block or a clearance and continued to look unconvincing throughout the majority of the first-half, failing to win a single defensive duel.
Whilst the 26-year-old’s passing in general wasn’t too concerning having completed 92.6% of his attempted efforts, the highest rate of Leicester’s starting XI, there were a few occasions where he had to be bailed out by his teammates.
He twice played a short backpass that was almost picked off by Hammers’ forward Jesse Lingard.
Whilst Amartey was not at fault for any of the West Ham goals, it was still an utterly atrocious performance from the defender and he was eventually substituted at half-time for youngster Luke Thomas.
Rodgers will surely not believe that he is the centre-back solution in the absence of Caglar Soyuncu based on the horrendous showing against West Ham at the London Stadium.
AND in more news, take a look at our Leicester player ratings in the West Ham defeat…