Meanwhile, back to the football. You’d be forgiven, from reading the headlines, for forgetting there is a home match tomorrow.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s pre-match press conference passed by almost unnoticed in the current heated atmosphere around West Ham after the shareholder news which leaked out via the national media last night.
Indeed, Nuno did his best to make sure his comments went largely unreported by producing one of his more unremarkable sessions with few headline worthy, reportable ‘nuggets’.
Apart from confirming the mood has lifted on the training pitch following the home victory against rivals Wolves, and that he felt West Ham had had a good transfer window, little of interest came from Nuno’s brief appearance.
What he could have mentioned were the statistics concerning tomorrows game against Derby County that should fill West Ham fans full of hope that back-to-back Championship wins are well within the Portuguese manager’s grasp.
As per the BBC who summarised it beautifully,
West Ham have won four of their last six home league matches (L2), more than their previous 20 beforehand (W3 D7 L10).
Since the start of 2024-25, Derby are winless in all 12 of their Championship games against sides relegated from the Premier League the previous season (D4 L8), losing their last four in a row.
West Ham’s Divine Mukasa has been directly involved in seven goals in 12 Championship starts (4 goals, 3 assists), four more than any other teenager in 2026.
Divine Mukasa is the in-form player to watch according to the stats
West Ham have only lost one of their last 16 home league games against Derby County (W7 D8), a 1-2 defeat in January 2005 under Alan Pardew.
Which would strongly suggest Nuno’s second victory within five days is within his grasp. Another three points tomorrow could see ‘normal service’ resumed and West Ham catapulted back into the top six: After a stumbling start the Hammers could get their promotion marathon back on track providing Nuno avoids making one of his famous selection cock-ups and sticks, more or less, with the eleven who started on Tuesday night.
The strength of the bench has been bolstered by the summer transfer window as per Nuno’s comments and should be more than enough to see off a Derby side currently sitting in sixteenth position without the resources of the home side, and with six players confirmed injured.
And three points would be some welcome news for supporters who’ve seen the focus shift away from the pitch and back into the boardroom in the last 24 hours: Another rip roaring victory ( I know, it’s unlikely for Nuno) might make everything feel a little better.
His PC’s are downright boring. Never gives anything away. I’ve stopped watching them. He won’t start with the same 11 though. Needs to rotate.
The positive spin is what we all hope for but at the same time the biggest hurdle for Nuno to get over is his own fear of losing. Opposition seem to be aware of it and the fact that he is no adverse to bringing on an extra defender on occasions that we’ve been losing underlines that. He needs to be gone. Don’t fool for his well rehearsed lines, he’s a fake.