West Ham had the opportunity to go top of the Championship and send a message to the rest of the division. Swansea’s extraordinary 5-0 defeat at QPR had opened the door, with victory over Southampton enough to move the Hammers level with Middlesbrough on 25 points and into first place on goal difference.
Instead, West Ham produced one of those performances which feels painfully familiar. Clutching defeat from the jaws of opportunity is something we do particularly well whenever a victory is available that could make a real difference to our fortunes.
Make no mistake, going top at this stage of the season would have been important. It would have placed Nuno Espírito Santo’s team in control of the Championship and underlined our status as promotion favourites. Instead, as we feared in our earlier warning about West Ham’s slow starts, the Hammers paid the price for another dreadful opening.
| # | Club | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middlesbrough | 12 | +10 | 25 |
| 2 | Swansea | 12 | +3 | 23 |
| 3 | West Ham | 12 | +17 | 22 |
| 4 | Wolves | 12 | +4 | 21 |
| 5 | West Brom | 12 | +3 | 21 |
| 6 | Southampton | 12 | +12 | 20 |
| 7 | Birmingham | 12 | +8 | 20 |
| 8 | QPR | 12 | +8 | 20 |
| 9 | Stoke City | 12 | +2 | 20 |
| 10 | Blackburn | 12 | +3 | 18 |
Southampton Deliver West Ham Reality Check
Instead, the 3-2 defeat leaves West Ham third on 22 points. That is probably about right based on what we have seen so far, but the wider mathematics should concern Nuno.
Southampton are now only two points behind the Hammers despite starting the season with a four-point deduction. Their seven wins and three draws have actually earned them 24 points on the pitch, which means they would be above West Ham without the punishment.
That should be the biggest reality check of all. Judging by their performance at the London Stadium, Southampton also looked like the better-drilled team and, based on the points they have accumulated, they appear perfectly capable of overtaking us.
As we highlighted in our West Ham versus Southampton preview, this was an opportunity to put significant daylight between the two clubs. Instead, we fluffed our lines and allowed one of our most dangerous promotion rivals to move within striking distance.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it time and time again, this manager’s an absolute clueless cagey loser.
He oversaw 33 of our 38 league matches last season and kept his job despite relegating us.
He’s cagey, starts with baffling teams and tactics, makes poor in-game subs, etc.
We’re literally shooting ourselves in the foot week after week with this plum as manager.
If we had someone with more courage and competence, we’d be well clear at the top already with a few points advantage.