West Ham head to Leicester looking to build on consistency provided by Lukasz Fabianski

West Ham United via Getty Images
Jack Rosser @JackRosser_27 October 2018

Ten games into the season, we’re told, is always the time to start judging where a team will wind up come the conclusion in May.

West Ham travel to Leicester for their tenth Premier League outing under Manuel Pellegrini this weekend in desperate need of consistency if they are to aim higher this season.

After the coup of Pellegrini and a £100million spending spree over the summer, a top ten finish is expected by many in east London this season.

However, after a horror start and just two wins in nine, albeit one against Manchester United, the Hammers must now take advantage of a kind run of games ahead of the final international break of 2018.

After Claude Puel’s side, West Ham host Burnley before visiting currently winless Huddersfield in a run which could define the trajectory of their season. The east Londoners are without back-to-back Premier League wins since January 2017 and, if they are to really progress under Pellegrini, consistency is vital.

One foundation for a strong run this term lies between the posts, with Lukasz Fabianski exceeding expectations since his arrival from relegated Swansea over the summer.

After a season of chopping and changing between a shaky Joe Hart and Adrian last term, the Hammers at last have a confident, trustworthy No1, and Pellegrini knows the difference it can make.

“In a game that you play with your feet, the most important player is the goalkeeper,” Pellegrini told Standard Sport.

“When you have a bad goalkeeper it is very difficult to arrange, other areas maybe you can arrange tactically but a goalkeeper who doesn’t give you trust it is very difficult for the others to play, in this moment Lukasz is giving us a lot of trust.

West Ham

Season so far

L 4-0 Liverpool

L 2-1 Bournemouth

L 3-1 Arsenal

L 1-0 Wolves

W 3-1 Everton

D 0-0 Chelsea

W 3-1 Manchester United

L 1-0 Brighton

L 1-0 Tottenham

“I was impressed also by Lukasz in his professional conduct. Not only in the way he works but also in the way he is part of the squad. He is always wanting to improve, he is always listening, especially to Charlie Baleno, his coach. And he is improving every day and he is asking what can he do to improve more. So a very good professional.

“When you start losing so many games, four in the row at the start of the season, you are always thinking about change but Lukasz in that moment demonstrated that he was in a good moment, made a lot of saves, so that is why he kept his place and Adrian must wait.”

The Pole provides a base on which Pellegrini can build. In central defence he has a strong partnership building between Fabian Balbuena and Issa Diop, helped no end by the cover Declan Rice provides ahead of them.

From that base, though, chances must be created, and taken, especially against those around you in the table.

“We are always working, but this week of course we made extra work to create more chances,” Pellegrini added.

“To create the space, to finish with more accurate passes or crosses. But we are working always, that’s the thing.”

A win at the King Power and, while not perhaps the start Pellegrini could have dreamed of, their chances could look much brighter after ten games. Lose and the pressure only continues to rise.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in