3 Comments

Will the Hammers make the top four

It has been yet another remarkable season for West Ham under the stewardship of David Moyes.

The perennial big six in English football have once again been disturbed by the Hammers and with a Europa League campaign to get stuck into too, it is a superb time to be a West Ham fan.

However, the biggest question for West Ham is where does all of this optimism and positivity ultimately take the club. The comparisons to last season are stark, flying high in the Premier League for most of the campaign, to end up falling short of the top 4 at the end of the season.

There is no dispute that West Ham are punching above their weight at this level. In direct comparison to current top four rivals Manchester United, Tottenham and Arsenal, West Ham haven’t spent anywhere near the same amount of money on their playing squad.

Where will it take West Ham this season though? Will they fall short again come the end of the year and end up in the Europa League again? Or has this current batch of players developed from last year’s efforts, and could they be playing Champions League football come next season?

With 23 games played, West Ham find themselves 5th in the table, with 37 points – one point behind Manchester United in 4th – having played a game more.

The gap to Chelsea above them in 3rd is 10 points and with Liverpool and champions Manchester City seemingly out of sight, it seems the Hammers are battling it out for one place in the top four.

Recent results have propelled Arsenal, Tottenham, and Wolves into touching distance of David Moyes’ side and with all of those sides having games in hand, it could be a serious scrap for a Champions League place this term.

Having just been edged out by Manchester United in their last league game, West Ham are now 10.00 to go on and reach the holy grail of the Champions League this term.

Outside of the established top three, it is Ralf Rangnick’s Manchester United that look best placed to finish in the top quadrant and are currently at odds 2.50 (according to the UK bet apps) to do so.

Tottenham have shown more promise under Antonio Conte, but inconsistency continues to plague their season but at 2.75, Spurs cannot be discarded in the race for a top four finish this season.

Mikel Arteta has finally got Arsenal playing the type of football the Gunners fans want to see and the results are slowly starting to turn the Spaniard’s way too.

They have the advantage of not having to play European football this season, which could ultimately be very useful, and their young squad is purring.

At 3.50, they are on the periphery of a top 4 finish this season and it would be a seriously big statement if Champions League football returned to the Emirates Stadium.

The proverbial jokers in the pack are Wolves, who have put a superb run of form together under Bruno Lage in recent weeks.

A side that never knows when they are beaten, Wolves have picked up some excellent results against some of the biggest sides in the division.

Coming in at 34.00, they do look to have their work cut out somewhat, but Wolves are a decent side and could well be in the top 4 mix come May 2022.

Image from: unsplash.com

 

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

3 comments on “Will the Hammers make the top four

  1. Can’t see us finishing top four, I would happy with top 6 but the way the ref’s are treating us that will even be a challenge.

  2. Quite remarkable achievement by Moyes. I never expected us to be mixing it up with the big boys. Hell of an achievement considering how much money we have compared to top six. Moyes has raised our expectations but I’d say we are the best team outside the greedy six and if that’s where we finish this season, seventh, I’ll be happy with that. To finish seventh while competing in the Europa league and all the cups would still be a great achievement.

  3. The main worry for me is that we will miss out on the Europa League and possibly even the European conference. We have certainly punched above our weight but given their spending power the likes of Man United, Spurs and Arsenal should finsih ahead of us which leaves us scrapping for 7th place.

Comments are closed.