It is fair to say James Collins and Joe Cole will have very different memories when it comes to a Premier League relegation battle with West Ham United.
Welsh dragon Collins was part of the ‘Great Escape’ of 2007. Academy graduate Joe Cole, in contrast, was part of that West Ham United side infamously dubbed ‘too good to go down’ four years prior.
Go down they would, of course, despite amassing 42 points in the 2002/03 campaign. Averaging 0.92 points per game under Nuno Espirito Santo – an average reduced in the dying embers in midweek after Benjamin Sesko ‘robbed’ a Manchester United equaliser at the death – the Londoners are on track to finish the current campaign with 35 points to their name.
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A graphic showing Nuno Espirito Santo's quote after West Ham draw with Manchester United
Credit: Getty Images/Justin Setterfield
Neither Collins nor Cole have any thoughts about throwing in the towel at this stage, though.
Not only have West Ham picked up the fourth-most points in the division across the last five games – behind only Man United, Chelsea and Bournemouth – they also have a free-scoring forward in the form of his life in the shape of Crysencio Summerville.
Summerville emulated Jesse Lingard at Turf Moor when becoming the first West Ham player since the ex-England international in 2021 to score in five successive matches. That run came to an end during the 1-1 draw with Michael Carrick’s resurgent Red Devils.
But, watching Summerville cut inside and sting Senne Lammens’ palms with a fierce drive from distance, TNT co-commentator Ally McCoist could not help talk up the ‘amazing’ turnaround in a winger who went 25 matches and 14 months without a goal before facing QPR in the FA Cup.
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Speaking of the FA Cup, West Ham travel to Burton Albion in Saturday’s fourth round clash at the Pirelli Stadium.
Nuno is taking those cup commitments seriously, but he must be tempted to give Summerville a rest. Especially after West Ham lost Pablo Felipe to a potential long-term injury.
“You know, I think the most important player to keep fit for West Ham – and he’s come from nowhere – is Summerville,” Cole says on TNT Sports Football.
“He’s brilliant. Class player.”
Continue like this, and Summerville will soon be mentioned in the same breath as iconic West Ham ‘mavericks’ of years past; the Joe Coles, the Paolo di Canios, the Carlos Tevezs and so on.
There are certainly similarities with the Argentine icon. Tevez turned on the style and dragged West Ham over the line in 2007. Summerville is threatening to do the same, saving up his very own glut of goals for the second half of the season.
“Summerville has been unreal,” agrees Collins, a teammate of Tevez’s at Upton Park [Clutch 9 podcast]. “West Ham fans need a player like Summerville to get them on the edge of the seat, get behind the team.”
West Ham might have already found 2026’s Carlos Tevez…
How many goals will Summerville end the season with?
Carlos Tevez of West Ham United celebrates scoring during the Barclays Premiership match between West Ham United and Bolton Wanderers at Upton Park on May 5, 2007 in London, England. Crysencio Summerville of West Ham United celebrates scoring his team's first goal during the Premier League match between West Ham United and Sunderland at London Stadium on January 24, 2026 in London, England.
Summerville, of course, is not the only player starting 2026 as he means to go on.
Mateus Fernandes is fast emerging as the Premier League’s next-best midfielder. Jarrod Bowen had rediscovered his scoring touch as well following a bit of a fallow period, and Tomas Soucek secured a place in the history books when becoming the competition’s greatest-ever Czech goalscorer.
All three may be rested, alongside Summerville, if Nuno opts to ring the changes in Staffordshire though. Our TalkingPoints users are holding out hope that Keiber Lamadrid and Mohamadou Kante will make their first starts away to Burton.
“I think Fernandes, in centre midfield, has been brilliant the last few weeks,” adds Collins. “Obviously Jarrod Bowen does his thing, but Summerville, Summerville is unbelievable.
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