London
Michail Antonio became West Ham’s outright top scorer in the Premier League in a dominant victory for the Hammers over 10-man Leicester City at London Stadium.
Antonio celebrated by lifting a cardboard cut-out of himself after scoring his 48th top-flight goal to break Paolo di Canio’s club record.
The 31-year-old added a second four minutes later to wrap up an impressive win for David Moyes’ side.
It is only the second time the Hammers have won their opening two fixtures of a Premier League campaign.
Pablo Fornals and Said Benrahma scored West Ham’s first two goals either side of Ayoze Perez’s dismissal for a stamp on goalscorer Fornals.
Youri Tielemans had briefly given the visitors hope at 2-1 before Antonio’s late double.
Brendan Rodgers put it mildly when he said his side were “very light” at the back in his pre-match interview, with new signing Jannik Vestergaard joining Wesley Fofana, James Justin, Ryan Bertrand, Jonny Evans and Nampalys Mendy on the sidelines.
The makeshift Foxes defence was finally undone by West Ham on 26 minutes when Fornals scored his third goal in as many league games for the Hammers.
The Spaniard played a quick one-two with Benrahma on the left before continuing his run into the box, sweeping past Kasper Schmeichel with a first-time finish from 10 yards.
There was calamitous defending from Caglar Soyuncu for West Ham’s second as the Turkey international’s sloppy backpass was intercepted by the unselfish Antonio, who crossed for Benrahma to fire past Schmeichel from 12 yards.
Antonio had drawn level with Di Canio courtesy of his strike at Newcastle in West Ham’s season opener, but it seemed as if he would have to wait for his moment of glory as he saw five chances go begging.
But after holding off Soyuncu in the box from Declan Rice’s cross, Antonio turned past the centre-back and found the bottom corner.
His night was not over yet. As a packed London Stadium chanted ‘ole’ with each Hammers pass, Antonio capped off a near-perfect evening as he flicked the ball above two Leicester defenders, before beating them both on the turn and stabbing past Schmeichel.
