West Ham Watching Brief â Rivals in Action Could Define Bournemouth Point
Weâll only truly understand the value of West Ham Unitedâs point against AFC Bournemouth at the London Stadium once the rest of our relegation rivals have completed their fixtures â three of whom are in action today.
On the surface, Crystal Palace look relatively comfortable. They have a decent gap on West Ham, face what appears an easier opponent in Wolverhampton Wanderers, and probably only need a couple more wins to feel safe.
But scratch beneath the surface and itâs a different story.
Palace feel like a club in turmoil, with Oliver Glasner widely believed to be eyeing the exit BEFORE the end of the season, while Wolves arrive in resurgent form after giving Arsenal a bloody nose last week.
Elsewhere, Arsenal themselves face Tottenham Hotspur â a match that suddenly carries relegation significance. Realistically, Spurs are one more defeat away from being dragged into a proper dogfight, which only makes it more frustrating that West Ham couldnât take all three points yesterday and apply real scoreboard pressure.
Forest v Liverpool Looms Large
The most important fixture of the afternoon, though, is Nottingham Forest versus Liverpool.
Forest now have a new man in the dugout, VĂtor Pereira, who began his reign with an impressive 3â0 away win over Fenerbahçe SK.
Liverpool, however, represent a very different challenge.
Yes, Arne Slotâs side have shown their own vulnerabilities this season â and honestly, almost any result here wouldnât shock me. But a Liverpool victory would heap immediate pressure on Pereira, and as weâve seen recently at the City Ground, things can unravel quickly when results donât go a managerâs way.
So itâs very much a watching brief this afternoon.
All eyes on those games.
Letâs just hope at least some of the results fall West Hamâs way.
Talk about leaving it late.
Ball in goal twice both contested by VAR in extra time.
Thankfully second goal was allowed by a toe nail.
Didn’t think Liverpool looked overly impressive.
On that performance possibility of an upset next week.
Just need Spurs to suffer same fate.
Forest new manager didn’t look a happy man.
Tottenham on the worst form by far is in part due to their injuries, they were training with only 13 players the other day. Home to Arsenal is a hard game for them.
Forest at home to Liverpool is hard but not as hard, they’re picking up a point a game over the last eight is twice as good as Tottenhams form.
Both have sacked the manager with both new appointments needing to be successes to detrimentally affect us, if either one blows out…
We’ve been chasing both of them down for a few games now on much better form than both of them is the main factor, that ball is in our court and we need to keep racking up the wins and draws. A draw against Bournemouth was not a bad result, they are on good form.
Keeping my fingers crossed; & hoping to be able to uncross them before the last game of the season !
Of all the clubs down there I felt Palace were there to be caught for all the reasons you say. But that win for them over Brighton really hurt us.
Iâm hoping the dead cat bounce doesnât happen for Forest otherwise I fear the worst.
As much of a dream it would be sending Spurs down I donât see it happening.