West Ham United fans were hoping that the 2022/23 Premier League campaign would be another season of steady growth and improvement for manager David Moyes. Any hopes that they would be in competition for a place in the upper end of the league come the summertime have been dashed by their continued struggles on and off the pitch.

Despite the disruptions to the domestic campaign caused by the first ever winter World Cup, a much needed win against fellow relegation threatened Everton at the weekend lifted us into 16th place in the top flight table. However, a single point is all that separates us from Bournemouth and the drop zone.

Relegation Zone

While it is one thing trying to predict who will be the outright winner of the league, figuring out who is going to be relegated at the end of the season is also a difficult task. However, looking at the odds from some of the best football betting sites can help when trying to determine the ultimate winners and losers this season. Most of the top betting sites will also allow you to see the odds for the top four finishers in the league, as well as odds on who will be relegated. It is a battle at the bottom with a number of clubs involved and unfortunately it looks like the West Ham will be one of those in the mix.

With few plaudits going our way this year given the performances and results we have seen, Jarrod Bowen’s double on Saturday to ensure the 2-0 victory is enough to create a tiny bit of breathing room. However, in order to avoid the dreaded relegation battle, we simply have to build on this win, and quickly.

Cruelly dubbed ‘El Sackico’ given the position of both clubs, Moyes admitted following the full-time whistle that the win had been ‘a relief’ but he continued to be focused on leading us to safety.

“My understanding was the board will still support me no matter what, that takes a lot of doing and a big thank you to them. I still believe it is something the board didn’t want to do, to make changes. I have a board behind me who are supportive and who have backed me. I have to think about my position because me winning one game doesn’t mean everything is fine.”

Pressure Still On

Declan Rice had commented that the game could be a ‘season defining’ moment, but former defender Steve Brown believed those comments to be very premature given our current position and the pressure we are under.

Speaking to the BBC’s The Far Post podcast, he said:

“I would say Declan Rice is not correct that it was season-defining by any stretch of the imagination. You should want to win every game. I’m not having a pop at Declan Rice, it’s that this team is under-performing, and it’s let him (David Moyes) down. Yes, it takes the pressure off for a little bit and it’s very nice for him to say in an interview that that’s for our manager, because that kind of gives you the backing. But they have got a lot of work to do. It seems like he thinks it’s job done and we move on from here. No, you’ve got to grind now for another month and get yourself right out of trouble.”

Brown has a point, but it is an incredible stretch to suggest Rice in any way feels that the hard work is done. At least for this week and until the next game, Bowen can take the plaudits and enjoy being named in Garth Crooks’ Team of the Week – although it does seem he actually forgot to talk about West Ham:

“If you’ve only scored one goal in your past five away Premier League games and you find yourself 2-0 down after just 40 minutes it’s fair to assume you’ve got a problem. Everton have some serious problems both on and off the pitch and Jarrod Bowen’s goal scoring instincts for West Ham have just jettisoned Frank Lampard from his job and catapulted the Toffees into more turmoil.”

Here’s to hoping the Hammers can keep the good form up and avoid the relegation battle.

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