West Ham are about to have their current and future situations defined in the games against Arsenal and Chelsea.
And I believe they will emerge from the Christmas games with English football being forced to accept that they are now a genuine top four club.
I bumped into Sam Allardyce over the weekend at the Premier League where I work as a pundit and this is a man who is extraordinarily confident at the moment – there’s a spring in his step and quite rightly too.
Sam has always been a manager who has planned how to defend against or exploit the weaknesses of the opposition.
I really don’t think that’s the case anymore. He knows – and so do I – that the Irons are a team for others to worry about. They are genuinely top class and can stay in the top four from now until the end of the season.
There are very few teams who carry the pace, power and threat of West Ham United and I fully expect them to show how good they are by beating Leicester and Arsenal.
Chelsea may be a slightly different proposition but we are gonna give them one hell of a game. We may be beaten but don’t count on it and we will then go on to beat West Brom!
I watch an awful lot of football over the course of a season and to date i haven’t seen a team in action of which the Hammers need to be afraid – the opposite is true.
For us to be coming from behind to gain points on a regular basis tells us all we need to know about this team – we a re top four and I think Champions league football is a very real possibility at the Boleyn next season.
The rest of English football will soon have to wake up to the fact hat we are a top top side!
COYI
Wow Leroy I hope you are right… After seeing Southampton draw one and then lose four in a row Im worried it may happen to us… that would be just typical. But we are a strong side and we will know alot more after these next few matches BUT champions league has not entered my thinking …… yet
COYI
Top blog Leroy, that’s my thinking too. Chelsea will have us down as a tough game, they won’t take us lightly.
Champions League – behave yourself!
A couple of more wins and we’re safe, that’s the way to think!
Oh, I’ve just had a thought – maybe we could get dragged into the Europa Cup rubbish – Thursday nights on ITV4 – lot’s of travelling – yet more matches on a Sunday – injuries – what a nightmare!!
Think I’d sooner have dinner with Lee than you Michael 😉
What do you make of Robbie Savage on MOTD saying West Ham will have had a good season if they finish in the top 10? I hope I’m wrong…… but I’ve funny feeling we might end the season somewhere in-between.
Known Sav for a lot of years – he sways with the wind. tgold me top 6 when I spoke to him recently lol
And Did you advise Sam to drop andy Carroll leroy? I seem to remember you wrote an article to that effect just before the game in which andy Carroll scored two and assisted sakho for the third 🙂
I hate putting a downer on what is a very good start to the season,but the teams we have beaten bar two are sides i would have been disappointed to lose against.The real tests are still to come,and keep talking champions league will only lead to further disappointment.Theres no doubt we have come a long way in the last year,but lets not get too carried away,we all know the jokes about us coming down with the xmas lights.Plus we lose arguably three of our most influential players Song,Kouyate and Sakho,to the African cup.I think we should be looking for a top ten finish,and that would be a vast improvement on last year,not only higher in the table,but how we have played the West Ham way. C.O.Y.I.
I like your optimism Leroy !!! I hope we can finish in the top 6 or 7 and most importantly above the spuds !! If we finish any better than that it would be trully exceptional. The Arsenal game should show us where we are in terms of a finish, this season they look distinctly average. Does anyone else think if Sam keeps Nolan in the team at the expense of Noble we might only finish mid-table ? For me it appears as though our passing, counter attacking and control in games is so much better when Noble is buzzing around the midfield. COYI !!!