West Ham season – an analysis

The 2022 World Cup has given punters a  breather to size up the state of play in the Premier League.

The winter break, perhaps something that the EPL and FA should really be considering moving forward, has been a good time to restock and re-evaluate trading positions in Premier League Betting.

What do the bookmakers’ apps for betting currently say about the position of West Ham in the top-flight odds?

Last season it was all about their potential push for a top four finish, which in turn drifted to a focus on a top six finish. At the 2022 World Cup break, there was a far different picture in West Ham odds. West Ham relegation odds are suddenly being talked about instead.

That seemed unthinkable at the start of the season with great additions like Maxwell Cornet, Lucas Paquetá, and Gianluca Scamacca bolstering the attack plus Nayef Aguerd, Emerson and Thilo Kehrer stiffening things up at the back.

Where Did It Go Wrong?

The first half of the 2022/23 Premier League season was forgettable for West Ham. Since David Moyes returned to the club, it has, for the large part, been all smiles and roses.

Back-to-back top-seven finishes in 2021 and 2022 introduced some brilliantly optimistic times to the club.

It raised the bar of expectancy that the Irons should be a consistent top-eight team at the very least. But the first half of the 2022/23 Premier League season, however, went a bit wrong.

Just two places and a nerve-wracking one point out of the relegation zone ahead of the World Cup intervention turned things on their head. The lure of potentially playing at the World Cup, didn’t seem to inspire better performances from some of West Ham’s key personnel.

The early return in the season was a far cry from the brilliant start to the 2021/22 season that West Ham had produced. The Irons rattled off an impressive W7 D2 L2 record in their first eleven matches of the previous campaign. This time it was a paltry W3 D1 L5.

West Ham Relegation Odds

Are West Ham really under threat of relegation? The bookmakers are clearly not considering West Ham as real relegation candidate’s from a quote of 10/1. Certainly, beneath them in the standing, there are teams with much bigger apparent concerns.

There’s Wolves, who lack any real scoring threat in front of goal. The continuous slide of Southampton has been eye-catching as their defence has capitulated time and time again. Both of those restart the season with new managers, who may take some time to settle into some daunting jobs.

West Ham’s numbers were poor across their first fifteen matches of the campaign. Just 12 goals in 15 games, left only three teams with a lower goal output than the Irons in that sequence.

They had also lost four times at home already before the World Cup (W3 D1 L4). In the entirety of last season, West Ham only lost five home matches. They also won nine times on the road in last season’s top flight. It’s been a shocking W1 D1 L5 from them on their travels so far.

Problems are afoot, yes, but punters will likely still back them to get out of trouble.

Moyes To Go?

If a revival comes, will it be under David Moyes who is the 10/3 second favourite in the Premier League sack race odds? Only Everton’s Frank Lampard is at shorter odds. But if the club had wanted to change things at the top, would the World Cup break not have been the time to do it?

Hammers High Five?

West Ham’s matches on the resumption of the Premier League after the World Cup give them a chance to get up a head of steam. Once the trip to Arsenal on Boxing Day is out of the way, the Irons have Brentford, Leeds, Wolves and then Everton to follow.

The latter three were all sat in the bottom six with the Irons at the World Cup break. So there are certainly chances there to be taken. It was only a five-point gap that West Ham faced to climb to mid-table, so not exactly a mountain.

Other West Ham Odds

What else do we have? A 6/4 quote on them landing a finish in the Top Half Of The Table. A massive 50/1 shot at muscling into the top six.

From December 28th through to the end of February last season, West Ham posted a W5 D2 L2 record in a great run. From the turn of the new year, they posted a fantastic W5 D2 L3 home record. Any repeat of that will see relegation talk quickly forgotten.

Photo by Unsplash

 

About Hugh5outhon1895

Hugh Southon is a lifelong Iron and the founding editor of ClaretandHugh. He is a national newspaper journalist of many years experience and was Bobby Moore's 'ghost' writer during the great man's lifetime. He describes ClaretandHugh as "the Hammers daily newspaper!" Follow on Twitter @hughsouthon