Sam Allardyce is convinced he’s in charge of a west Ham squad which is better than the bolton side that achieved a seventh placed Premier League finish.

That was back in the  2006-07 season. Wanderers found found themselves third places at the turn of the year, but defeat to Liverpool on New Years Day was followed by another three games without a win and the team ended up finishing seventh.

However, speaking to the national press, Allardyce indicated the Irons side he has at his disposal is in a better position than that Bolton team.

“‘The prospects we have now is that this is a bigger squad than that one and has more strength in depth. It has not quite got the experience but we have a lot of strength in depth and in the deeper end of the squad we have a lot of good players to step in when needed.

‘That was not the case at Bolton. We had a strong 14 or 15 but nothing more than that. That is why it never lasted at Bolton, sadly.’