The importance of West Ham‘s 3-2 home victory over Burnley on Saturday cannot be understated.
A defeat would’ve left West Ham at least four points from safety with fixtures against Bournemouth, Liverpool, Man United, Brighton, Aston Villa and Manchester City coming up after the international break.
Instead, the Nuno Espirito Santo‘s side only remain in the bottom three on goal difference and there is a renewed sense of optimism surrounding the club.
Back-to-back home wins against Newcastle and the Clarets have given everyone associated with West Ham hope that things are beginning to turn around after a disappointing start to the season, which ultimately led to Graham Potter losing his job a little over a month after the campaign begun.
Following the losses to Brentford and Leeds, many believed West Ham were sleepwalking towards the Championship, but now there’s hope of a revival which will ultimately lead to the Hammers climbing up the Premier League table before long.
West Ham still have a long way to go
Despite all the positivity surrounding the team’s recent uptick in form, it would be naive to think it’s all going to be plain sailing for Nuno’s side from this point.
There are still plenty of improvements needed and the upcoming fixtures represent a very difficult period in the club’s season.
But Opta’s Supercomputer believes West Ham’s chances of Premier League survival have improved markedly over the past two weeks.
It is now predicting a 17th placed finish for the Hammers. A finish like that still represents a very real possibility of relegation come May and it’s clear Nuno’s players will have a fight on their hands if they’re to improve on that over the coming months.
According to the updated predictions, West Ham’s chances of relegation now stand at 40.53%, with Burnley, Leeds and basement club Wolves now expected to return to the Championship.
On the basis of current form, the predictions make a lot of sense, but it would be far more reassuring if the Hammers were able to improve on that predicted final position and chances of relegation in the coming weeks.