Focussing on the games yet to come, West Ham, we are told, need to find another six wins if they are to bring about the Great Escape II and overhaul their nearest rivals Nottingham Forest who currently sit three points above the Hammers.
However there’s an ‘interesting’ – from a West Ham perspective – crisis brewing at the Tricky Trees’ HQ which could yet come to haunt Sean Dyche’s team in the seeming two-horse race which is developing.
Today’s inews.co.uk highlights the issue succinctly in their article:
“Nottingham Forest have a defensive crisis”
“..There is also a defensive crisis here and it has been caused by Forest’s poor recruitment. They have spent around £300m on new players since June 2024 and, judging by Friday night, their first three reserve defenders are Morato, Zach Abbott and Luca Netz. Which is mad.
So, it seems West Ham are not the only side in the Premier League who have blown millions on unsuitable talent. The article continues:
West Ham are below Forest in the table and their backup defence is Kyle Walker-Peters, Maximilian Kilman, Axel Disasi and either Malick Diouf or Ollie Scarles. I know which I would rather have and it leaves Forest desperate for their first-choice defence to be fit.”
Which, whilst it won’t likely help West Ham close the gap this week with Forest taking on bottom side Wolves whilst the Hammers have visitors Manchester United to cope with, it could well impact Forest’s ability to maintain their points gap as the season winds down and the tension ratchets up. Any straw to clutch at.
Westham have some very,very tough matches coming up . Realistically if Westham don’t win at least 2 out of the next 6 Forest will significantly stretch their points advantage over Westham . Man U H , Bournemouth H , Liverpool A , Fulham A , Man City H and Aston Villa A . Anyone who looks at those matches will realize that Man U and Bournemouth are must wins and maybe Fulham too . To beat either Liverpool , Man City or Villa would be in the spectacular class of result .
Forest, Palace and Spurs also have the added complication of being in European competitions. Do Palace and Spurs feel safe enough from relegation to concentrate on Europe? Will Forest throw Europe to stay in the Premiership or tire their players by trying to compete in Europe?
We don’t need 6 wins. We need 1 point more than Forest
More precisely we need either a points or goal difference advantage over the third bottom placed team, whoever that may be.
There are way too many variables, as always, in any relegation battle.
As such, there is also no such thing as a ‘must win game’, we’ve lost several of those already and aren’t relegated.
We’ve 13 further matches to play, and being West Ham, we will most likely get points from matches in which we have ‘no right’ and lose points against ‘easier’ teams. It’s West Ham, it’s what we do!
😂😂👍
I guess it depends how long their first choice back your are out for and relies on us keeping our wingers fit to keep progressing
Exactly, if sommerville or bowen get injured, we are finished