Ghana international Andre Ayew continued his mercurial rise to the top with his third goal in four games but that was not enough to at least salvage a point for his team.
Ayew earned his first start since December and duly repaid Slaven Bilic’s faith by turning in his third goal in the last four games.
For the visitors, Jamie Vardy scored his third goal in three league games and Shinji Okazaki’s 89 pass success rate was the best by a Leicester player. That said, the Japanese international ranked 4th in that discipline from both sides - behind Jose Fonte, Cheikhou Kouyate and Manuel Lanzini.
Of course, the second half display on Saturday, which included that Ayew goal, might give encouragement to Bilic but he will know that there are defensive issues to address. The Hammers have now conceded eight goals from their last three matches and the injury picked up by Winston Reid on Saturday could rule the New Zealander out for an extended period.