Three games into the season and West Ham are sitting in 12th place with three points. Doesn’t sound great, does it? But then realise that the Hammers have already played Chelsea and Manchester City away. That’s two of the hardest fixtures of the season out of the way, and to get a win between them is a bonus. That makes it sound a lot better, but it also makes one thing certain, the next few games are vital.
Momentum is crucial in the Premier League, and if you get off to a slow start then it can signal the beginning of a very long season. Getting off to a good start can also be incredibly beneficiary. Look at Crystal Palace last season, if it wasn’t for their great start, they would have been rivalling Aston Villa for bottom spot. I’m certainly not saying West Ham will be fighting relegation come next May, but if they want to be challenging the top six, they need to be around that area of the table once ten games have been played.
West Ham’s next six league games are Watford (h), West Brom (a), Southampton (h), Middlesbrough (h), Crystal Palace (a) and Sunderland (h). These are all very winnable games and I would expect the Hammers to get all 18 points on offer, with nothing less than 15 being acceptable. This would mean sitting on 21 points with nine games played. First place at the same stage last year had the same amount of points. Leicester only had 16.
In the same fixtures last year, the Hammers picked up a total of 15 points, five wins out of five while Middlesbrough were still in the Championship. Nothing less is acceptable if a successful season is in order.
Winning six games on the trot sounds ambitious for any club, but it’s certainly doable and come the end of October, I expect to see West Ham in a much higher league position.
