Vardy kicks off Van Nistelrooy's welcome party as Leicester adds to West Ham's trouble | first division

While one coach celebrated his first game in charge, another may have endured his last. Ruud Van Nistelrooy enjoyed a fortuitous but hard-earned victory as he enjoyed watching Leicester move four points clear of the relegation zone, but Julen Lopetegui must fear the worst.

Having spent more than £100m on new players over the summer, without seeing any noticeable improvement in the play or results of David Moyes' side, the former Wolves manager could be relieved to remain in charge when his previous club visits the London Stadium on Monday.

West Ham seem to be going backwards. Reading that other managers have been scouted for their work is hardly a morale booster.

Substitutes Patson Daka, finishing from the left corner of the area, and Niclas Füllkrug exchanged goals in added time. Van Nistelrooy's great entrance heralded the best start for his team. Only 98 seconds had elapsed when Jamie Vardy, after latching on to Bilal El Khannouss' elegant pass inside, calmly rolled the ball past Lukasz Fabianski and into the far bottom corner as the assistant referee's flag was raised. But it took almost two more minutes before the VAR ruled that the striker was onside. Cue the opportunity for Vardy to offer his best retort to away fans who like to egg him (and his wife) on. Leicester captain went and danced with dad in front of West Ham fans, his 100th first division participation in the goal at the King Power Stadium offering his team a winning platform.

If this was a great night for Van Nistelrooy, it was also a great night for Julen Lopetegui. West Ham may have won at Newcastle last week, which is no small feat, but their previous sequence of two wins in 10 games had reports suggesting they had two games left to save a job they only moved into in May. And when his team lost 4-0 at home to Arsenal in 36 minutes on Saturday night, the spotlight immediately turned back to him.

Waking up to more reports that Sérgio Conceiçao, the former Porto manager, had been sounded out about taking over, Lopetegui, the former Wolves and Spain manager, could have done so without being left behind so soon. But to their team's credit, after Vardy came close to scoring again, West Ham dominated the rest of the half. They had eight very presentable chances before the break, with Mads Hermansen saving three times from Jarrod Bowen's clever efforts.

The closest West Ham came to scoring in this period came when, following Bowen's right-footed cross, Danny Ings saw his header deflected off James Justin and against the post.

Mohammed Kudus, back from his five-match suspension, was in top form, crossing the line just behind Ings and sending in a superb cross for Tomas Soucek to head into the side netting. The net rippled; West Ham fans celebrated; Those at Leicester mocked his false hopes. But this game was still in play.

Lopetegui looked frustrated for much of the first half. Crysencio Summerville had been stripped and ready to enter. It seemed a bit strange that it had taken so long for the West Ham manager to opt for a direct pace against a thirty-something defensive pairing (Conor Coady and Jannik Vestergaard) who were never known for their speed.

Bowen fell through the middle. With Summerville attacking down the left, Kudus soon combined with Bowen to cross and Soucek fired a near post shot over the crossbar.

West Ham must have known they were out of luck when, just before Leicester went two goals ahead, Soucek was even more unlucky by not helping his team get back into the game. Summerville launched the ball into the air and Hermansen, gently pushed by the Czech Republic midfielder, dodged his blow before the ball crossed the line. But Josh Smith, the referee, called a foul.

Leicester had just increased their pace shares at opposite ends of the pitch (Wout Faes replacing Vestergaard, Patson Daka replacing Vardy) when El Khannouss stretched to meet Kasey McAteer's pass from the left and guided it into the bottom corner.

Leicester had done enough to give Van Nistelrooy his winning start, even if Coady had to react brilliantly, reversing his momentum to stop Summerville's effort off the line after Bowen's big pullback.

Cries of “morning dismissal” began from the corner of the West Ham pitch even before substitute Bobby De Cordova-Reid thought he had scored Leicester's third, nine minutes from time, after Fabianski had saved a first attempt. However, the VAR showed that there was a partial offside in the build-up.