Leicester City Nails the Hammers

Did the reigning Premiership champions needed this one.

Leicester City's been playing like anything but titlists lately, flirting with the relegation zone in what would be a spectacular fall if they kept slumping.

And until their 1-0 squeaker against West Ham United, slumping was almost too mild a word for their dire situation.

Still, the victory merely meant the Foxes were 2-for-December.

Counting their 5-0 thumping in the Champions League at the hands of FC Porto, Leicester staggered through a 2-1-4 end-of-year nightmare.

The Hammers muddled through the month at a 3-1-2 clip. That's a pace that'll serve them well enough to fight another season in the 'Ship, but it's also the sort of opponent Leicester needed to face right about now.

From the start, it looked like it was gonna be another one of those games for the Foxes, too.

This bit of fourth-minute futility captured their season in a nutshell:

What's more, the Hammers spent most of the game in possession. Dudes just couldn't hit the broad side of a Midlands barn.

Enter City’s Islam Slimani, who came up with the one and only goal of the game 20 minutes into it.

A perfect cross matched by a perfect header.

Maybe that post is regulation width, after all.

That was enough to send the Foxes' faithful to the pubs with warm and fuzzy thoughts. Not to mention memories.

Now, that's cruel.

But if nothing else, the current season is driving home the point of just how special the first half of 2016 was.