Who would’ve thought West Ham would be in the top four with just 12 games of the season left to play?
That’s the question posed by the Daily Mail sports pages today and the answer it’s probably fair to say is “absolutely nobody.”
But in this – the strangest of season – even Pep Guardiola was forced to admit following Saturday’s game that we are a team “with everything”
Two or three more signings and we could be onto the “next level” which has been mentioned for so long.
That’s it’s coming under a proper manager from whom everything he’s touched has turned to gold is great and we can only pray that he leads us into that Champions League promised land.
Frankly from the little I”ve seen of such as Chelsea – with that highly excitable new manager of theirs – and Manchester United – we can count ourselves as just as good.
Watching them at the weekend I had no fears of visit to United and from the Blues over the next few weeks.
In discussing out top four chances the Mail says: Moyes’ men gave the champions-in-waiting a game at the Etihad and could’ve come away with a point on another day. Fans were left feeling proud of the effort and performance, rather than disappointed with the loss.
There will be no hangover from that result when West Ham face Leeds next Monday, although a tough run of games against United, Arsenal, Wolves and Leicester could be make-or-break for their Champions League hopes.
Hammers favourite Joe Cole is certainly not ruling his old side out, telling BT Sport on Saturday: ‘You get into the top-four this year and it’s one of the biggest achievement in the club’s history.
‘If you keep going in the right direction and into the upper echelons of the league regularly, you’ll attract players because you’re London and it’s a great club.
‘It’s exciting times. I’d love to see a Barcelona or an AC Milan coming to the London Stadium because the fans deserve it.’
I really have optimism and would just love us to prove people wrong Keep playing the way we have we can win those difficult games , why not . The good thing is we’re not under pressure, no one expects it so the lads can just play each game as it comes without fear but steely determination COYI ⚒
It’s great to see us doing so well but I would be a bit careful about all the talk we are seeing about being at the next level. What does that really mean? You could argue permanently in the top half with never seeing a sign of being in a relegation battle. If people mean more than that and regular European football, then I think that needs much more work and good investment. Its a lot more games and the squad will need to be bigger and be able to cope with more injuries than we have had this year. Look at Leicester- games and injuries catching up with them now. Even Liverpool with their injuries this year. Great effort and progress this season though.
As I’ve written before, these next 3 or 4 games will show is where we are with challenging for a top 4 or even a top 6 finish. It would be great if we can do it, but I have a feeling we will fall away with these next games.