Paul Merson has dropped an astonishing claim about West Ham and Leeds only a month into Nuno Espirito Santo’s time in charge.
The outspoken pundit hasn’t held back in his latest comments — and his take has already got West Ham fans talking as pressure builds on the new boss.
If Nuno Espirito Santo didn’t realise the size of the task he had on his hands at West Ham then he surely does now.
The fact the Hammers are facing a must-win, six-pointer away at Leeds just eight games in, says everything.
Not to mention the fact it comes in front of a notoriously difficult Elland Road crowd under the lights.
Having to win at Leeds sums up West Ham’s dire situation
Win and West Ham can breathe some life into their horrendous season by going just a point behind Leeds in the Premier League table.
Lose and they will already be needing to string victories together just to avoid being cut adrift in the relegation zone.
West Ham’s season has been an unmitigated disaster so far.
MORE WEST HAM STORIES
With a pathetic record of five wins from 20 games in charge last season, Graham Potter should never have retained the job at the end of last season.
Now Nuno is the man charged with clearing up the mess left behind by him, Julen Lopetegui, Tim Steidten and, of course, the owners.
The London Stadium sits almost empty as West Ham play out another home defeat, this time to Brentford in the Premier League
Photo by Alex Pantling/Getty Images
One man who saw all this coming was Paul Merson.
During the summer Merson warned West Ham that Leeds and the other promoted clubs would finish above them.
Merson also predicted West Ham would be relegated.
Worryingly, those predictions look like being unerringly accurate already.
Unless Nuno can somehow turn things around, starting at Leeds on Friday night.
Merson makes astonishing West Ham and Leeds claim just four weeks into Nuno’s reign
Now, ahead of the vital clash, Merson has made an astonishing West Ham and Leeds claim just four weeks into Nuno’s reign.
Merson has been running the rule over the match and giving his verdict on how he sees it going.
The pundit says West Ham were so bad against Brentford he doesn’t give them a hope of a result at Leeds.
In fact, Merson believes the Hammers will be already all but relegated after another 2-0 loss.
Merson says West Ham are the worst team he has seen in the Premier League ‘for a long time’.
And he believes there will be no coming back from an inevitable defeat at Elland Road, despite there still being 29 games to go.
West Ham United manager Nuno Espirito Santo during the Brentford defeat
Photo by GLYN KIRK/AFP via Getty Images
“I watched West Ham against Brentford on Monday and I must admit, I haven’t seen anything as bad as that for a long time!” Merson told Sportskeeda.
“West Ham got ripped to shreds and it wasn’t even like they were playing Liverpool or Manchester City, it was Brentford, who were only three points ahead of them before that game.
“They looked petrified and nervous, it’s really worrying signs if you’re a West Ham fan…
“The battle to avoid relegation will be really tight this season, with Leeds and West Ham expected to be involved throughout.
‘West Ham already down’ says Merson
“I don’t think West Ham can afford to lose this game and Leeds can’t afford to not win! If I said this at the start of the season, you’d think I’m mad because what does this even mean, right? An established Premier League team like West Ham and newly-promoted Leeds fighting each other for survival after just eight games? No way.
“But that is the reality now and it shows how unpredictable things are in the Premier League. If West Ham lose this game, I don’t know what can save them. I’ve got to pick a winner now? Wow, this is hard! Only because of what I saw on Monday with West Ham, I’m going with Leeds here. In footballing terms, that was a really disturbing West Ham performance and I know they can’t do any worse than that this weekend. I’m still backing Leeds though.”
In terms of team news, sanity looks set to be restored as Nuno makes three West Ham changes for Leeds.