Cottee believes there are similarities to be drawn between the Irons and the Foxes.
Former West Ham United striker Tony Cottee has told Leicester City’s official website that he believes West Ham have had a similar season to this weekend’s opponents Leicester City.
The Hammers have fallen far short of the lofty standards they set themselves last season, enduring a poor start to life at the London Stadium.
Ahead of this weekend’s fixtures, Slaven Bilic’s side are 11th in the table, some 14 points off the top seven, which was seen as a base target at the start of the campaign.
Though they have improved since the start of December, they nevertheless enter Saturday’s clash on a four-game winless run.
Cottee believes there are similarities to be drawn between his old side and Leicester City, who have fallen from stunning champions last season to relegation battlers this term.
The former striker told LCFC Radio: “West Ham have been like Leicester this season, really. They’ve had their ups and downs and I think they’ve got to put right last week’s game against Bournemouth.
“It was a poor performance, so I think West Ham will be fired up. They still need a couple of wins – they’re on 33 – to push them up to the fabled 40 points and get themselves safe for next season. I don’t think it’s a game West Ham should be cruising into, it’s a game they need to win, really.”
Cottee went on to assess the way the game might go, and he highlighted the match-up between Foxes attacking pair Jamie Vardy and Shinji Okazaki and the struggling West Ham defence as a key battle.
He continued: “I’ve watched Leicester a few times over their last few games. They seem to be on the ball with things and I think they’ll do what they did so well last season if they come to West Ham.
“They’ll probably defend well like they did against Sevilla and try to hit them on the counter attack and it will cause West Ham problems.
“Defensively, West Ham haven’t really had a settled back four this season, so I think the likes of Jamie Vardy and Shinji Okazaki could cause them problems going forward.”
Leicester, of course, are on cloud nine after reaching the quarter-finals of the Champions League in midweek, but will be brought back down to Earth with a bump by a return to league action.
Both sides will feel they need a win for their respective goals, with a draw doing little to help either side at this stage of the season.
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