El Khannouss's masterclass may send Lopetegui back to Spain after West Ham lose again at Foxes

By Alessandro Schiavone at King Power Stadium, Leicester

Goals: Vardy, El Khannouss, Daka (L), Füllkrug (W)

West Ham had no answers for Bilal El Khannouss’s one-man show with the Moroccan registering his maiden Premier League goal and assist on the same evening in Leicester City’s 3-1 win yesterday night.

That now leaves Julen Lopetegui’s job at London Stadium hanging by a thread after the Hammers succumbed to their seventh defeat in only 14 outings after conceding yet again so early in the game. As if Saturday's lesson against Arsenal, who were 4-0 up after 36 minutes, didn't serve its purpose at all.

And the Moroccan wizard looked the most galvanized by Ruud Van Nistelrooy’s appointment, taking him less than two minutes to set up Jamie Vardy with a telegraphed through ball for the Foxes’ opener. And what a way for the Leicester legend to seek forgiveness from his new coach after pinching his record of scoring in 11 consecutive league games nine years ago!

But before El Khannouss scored himself with a composed finish on the hour-mark, West Ham had chances galore to equalize and even take the lead.

The vigorous and zestful Hammers matched the hosts for intensity and had two efforts from Jarrod Bowen and Mohammed Kudus repelled by the outstanding Mads Hermansen in goal. If that wasn't bad enough, Czech stalwart Tomas Soucek failed to hit the target with his head despite finding himself in a promising position.

And that it wasn’t gonna be West Ham’s night became evident when Dane Hermansen pulled off an instinctive save to dent Bowen again.

After the restart the Hammers didn’t show the same desire though and Fabianski had to bail his men out with a picture perfect fingertip save from Wilfried Ndidi.

A two-goal lead can swing quickly and Conor Coady made a crucial goal-line clearance before Daka put the result to bed with a thumping effort into the top corner after racing clear.

Deep into injury-time came Niclas Füllkrug's reply to El Khannouss after he too headed home his first-ever Premier League goal after a long injury lay-off.

But that was merely a late consolation and came 45 minutes too late.

It sealed a dream start for Van Nistelrooy but may well spell the end of Lopetegui's days in east London.

And like in most stories, the truth behind any great success story or failure lies in the middle. And the blame here should be shared between club, manager, staff and players.

It's highly unlikely that Lopetegui will still be in the dugout when his ex side Wolves travel to the capital on Monday night.

But stranger things have happened at the club in recent years such as... the Spaniard's appointment in the first place.