Premier League: Leicester City 2 West Ham United 1

While lowly Leicester did what they had to do on home soil,in the end their destiny was never in their own hands and, although Harvey Barnes’ first-half opener had temporarily lifted them out of the bottom three at the interval, Everton’s eventual victory over Bournemouth some 120 miles away on Merseyside condemned Dean Smith’s side to Championship football next season.

Wout Faes doubled the home advantage on the hour mark before Pablo Fornals pulled a goal back for David Moyes’ men with 11 minutes remaining, but the lights still went out for the Foxes at King Power Stadium, who succumbed to the dreaded drop.

The 14th-placed Hammers still have one vital date remaining in their diary – an eagerly awaited engagement on June 7 by way of their UEFA Europa Conference League final meeting with Fiorentina in Prague.

With the curtain falling on his side’s league campaign, the West Ham boss made a half-dozen changes from the side that had beaten subsequently-relegated Leeds United (3-1) last Sunday as Aaron Cresswell, Nayef Aguerd, Michail Antonio, Thilo Kehrer, Flynn Downes and Saïd Benrahma all returned to the starting line-up.

The matchday programme declared that ‘Foxes Never Quit’ while the blue and white flag-bearers in the stands waved their ‘Bring the Fight’ banners of defiance but in a frantic, frenetic opening, the Hammers were certainly not going to lay down and simply surrender.

Indeed, Benrahma forced an early corner, while Declan Rice – surely making his 244th and penultimate appearance in claret and blue – left his mark on fellow England midfielder James Maddison before Antonio forced Daniel Iversen to parry his 15-yarder as the quarter-hour mark approached.

Languishing Leicester may have secured a point at high-flying Newcastle United on Monday evening but that goalless draw against the Magpies had left the Foxes’ fate out of their hands.

Kicking off in the bottom three, the 2016 Premier League champions and 2021 FA Cup winners, knew nothing less than victory over West Ham would do but they also had the double-whammy of needing the 17th-placed Toffees – sitting two precious points ahead of them – to come unstuck against the Cherries on their own green, green grass of Goodison Park.

Going for broke and making of trio of changes, Smith recalled top-scorer Barnes, 10-goal Maddison and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall in place of Wilfred Ndidi plus substitutes Jamie Vardy and Harry Souttar but apart from two wayward efforts from Kelechi Iheanacho and Youri Tielemans the Hammers defence was largely untroubled by a Leicester side that simply looked to be trying too hard.

The shirt-sleeved Hammers fans fell silent for a few worrying seconds, when Boubakary Soumaré’s robust tackle on Rice left their swashbuckling skipper writhing on the deck but, thankfully, the 41-cap England international dusted himself down and, after Fornals and Antonio were off-target, Łukasz Fabiański comfortably fielded Barnes’ 18-yarder before Iheanacho and Dewsbury-Hall fired a couple of rising rockets inches over the Polish stopper’s crossbar.

This was developing into an enthralling end-to-end encounter, the only surprise being that the deadlock had not been broken.

But on 34 minutes the stalemate was ended when Barnes played a deft one-two with Iheanacho on the edge of the box and, having then ghosted behind Kehrer to collect the inch-perfect return before shrugging off Downes, he stroked a low angled eight-yarder across the face of Fabiański into the far corner to bag his 13th goal of the season.

Maddison might have doubled the lead but after drilling inches wide from 20 yards he then saw another deflected, looping shot sail past the post to leave Leicester only ahead by that Barnes’ goal at the break but – with Everton still being held by Bournemouth – crucially out of the bottom three, too.

Forcing a trio of early second-half corners, West Ham were still very much in the contest and, as the hour mark approached, the Foxes afternoon suddenly began to get decidedly uncomfortable with news filtering though from Goodison Park that Abdoulaye Doucouré’s goal had now sent Everton leapfrogging back over them towards safety, while Benrahma’s clever curler unluckily rapped Iversen’s left-hand post.

On 62 minutes, Kehrer’s touchline foul on Barnes enabled Tielemans to float the consequent left-wing free-kick towards the edge of the Hammers six-yard box, where Faes climbed above Aguerd to send a glancing, downward header inside the base of Fabiański’s left-hand upright but still it would not be enough in the final reckoning.

That goal was also the catalyst for Antonio and Benrahma to stand down for Danny Ings and Jarrod Bowen, who soon fired into the side-netting before then seeing Jonny Evans booked for dragging him down on the touchline.

Ings also saw yellow for tripping the escaping Tielemans and there was yet more angst for the newly-arrived striker, when Bowen’s shot was parried by Iversen and, although he squared the loose ball back across goal, his fellow substitute somehow lashed over the bar from eight yards.

Having missed that one, Ings then slashed wide before partially atoning for that awful miss by picking up the pieces from Luke Thomas’ mis-control in the centre circle and sending Fornals deep into Leicester territory, where the Spaniard cleverly deceived the back-tracking Faes and Iversen with a low, reverse 15-yarder that crept inside the base of the left-hand post for his seventh goal of the season.

Substitute Maxwel Cornet had a fine chance to level but going for the breathtaking rather than the basics, he sent his attempted acrobatic volley high over the top and, with the clock ticking down, Manuel Lanzini stepped from the bench for a cameo 226th appearance after seven loyal years of service.

By now, Leicester were resigned to the fact that there was to be no Merseyside miracle and, while they now join Southampton and Leeds United in the second tier, the final word went to the excited, expectant Hammers fans, who are already dusting down their passports for their trip to the Czech Republic in 10 days’ time.

“We’re going Prague,” they chanted. “You’re going down!”

Leicester: Iversen, Castagne (Pereira 90+1), Thomas, Dewsbury-Hall (Mendy 70), Evans, Faes, Tielemans, Maddison, Soumaré, Barnes, Iheanacho (Vardy 76). Unused subs: Smithies, Souttar, Amartey, Daka, Praet, Teté.

West Ham United: Fabiański, Coufal, Cresswell (Emerson 70), Kehrer, Aguerd, Rice, Downes (Lanzini 86)  Paquetá (Cornet 70), Fornals, Benrahma (Bowen 62), Antonio (Ings 62) Unused subs: Areola, Zouma, Ogbonna, Souček.

Booked: Evans (66) Ings (67).

Referee: Simon Hooper.