Darren Bent believes it would be a “travesty” if West Ham United fail to win promotion back to the Premier League this season after looking through the strength of Nuno Espírito Santo’s squad.
The former England striker made the claim on talkSPORT on Monday evening after West Ham followed up their victory over Wolves with a convincing 3-0 win against Derby County.
As reported by West Ham Zone, Bent highlighted the amount of proven quality still available to Nuno despite the summer rebuild.
Darren Bent sends clear West Ham promotion message
Bent pointed towards several of West Ham’s leading players when explaining why he believes anything short of promotion would represent a major failure.
He referenced Joel Piroe’s previous Championship scoring record alongside the quality of Taty Castellanos, Divine Mukasa, Jarrod Bowen, Arne Engels and Manor Solomon.
Bent also mentioned Max Kilman and Konstantinos Mavropanos before delivering his verdict.
“If West Ham don’t go up, it’s a travesty.”
Co-host Andy Goldstein responded to Bent’s list of players by describing the squad as “ridiculous”.
The expectation around West Ham has increased again after successive Championship wins.
Nuno’s side had failed to win any of their opening three league matches, drawing with Burnley and Watford either side of a home defeat to Charlton Athletic.
Victories over Wolves and Derby have changed the mood significantly.
West Ham produced one of their most complete performances of the campaign against Derby, with Joel Piroe opening the scoring before Edvin Austbø and Mohamadou Kanté struck late to complete a 3-0 win.
That result also delivered the defensive improvement Nuno had been demanding, with West Ham recording their first league clean sheet of the season.
The next challenge comes away at Bolton Wanderers on Tuesday night.
Our Bolton vs West Ham preview looks at the team news and key talking points before the game, while supporters can also check the latest West Ham injury news ahead of Bolton before Nuno names his side.
A first away league win of the campaign would add further weight to Bent’s argument that West Ham should be among the leading contenders for automatic promotion.
