West Ham have endured an abysmal season but it could yet have a dream ending in four different ways – and it is not as fanciful as it might sound.
Until the last six weeks, West Ham United had been enveloped by a black cloud on and off the pitch over the last two years.
From the malaise which set in during the last six months of David Moyes’ reign to the disastrous attempt at a rebuild by Tim Steidten and Julen Lopetegui and the hapless Graham Potter making things worse, the Hammers have been circling the plughole for some time.
Nuno Espirito Santo has been doing his best to put the plug in and keep West Ham afloat in the Premier League, breathing real life into the club’s survival hopes.
From staying up to winning the FA Cup, West Ham have dream end to season in their grasp
And now West Ham’s four-way dream end to the season is not as crazy as it may sound.
We may be donning our claret and blue tinted spectacles but after two years of abject misery, there is suddenly light at the end of the tunnel for the Hammers in more ways than one.
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Carlos Tevez of West Ham United celebrates scoring his team's first goal from the penalty spot during the Barclays Premiership match between Blackburn Rovers and West Ham United at Ewood Park on March 17, 2007 in Blackburn, England.
Firstly, staying in the Premier League is now very much a realistic possibility and in West Ham’s own hands.
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When the Hammers threw away a 1-0 lead to lose Forest at the start of January, they were effectively eight points adrift of safety.
The remarkable turnaround in form and performances since has seen the Irons cut the gap on Forest to just two points with 11 games to go.
Nuno Espirito Santo with West Ham captain Jarrod Bowen and winger Crysencio Summerville
Photo by Kevin Hodgson/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Spurs and Leeds have also been dragged back into the relegation dogfight, which is now a battle between those four clubs to avoid joining Burnley and Wolves in the Championship.
Leeds are being backed to be home and hosed, though, and even that could work out in West Ham’s favour.
The Hammers welcome the Elland Road outfit to east London on the final day of the season, by which stage the visitors may already be on the beach.
If West Ham need a win to survive at that point then Nuno couldn’t pick a better opponent.
Pundits and journalists are now falling over one another backing West Ham to stay up, which would be part one of the dream end to the season.
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Part two of that dream end to the season – for most Hammers fans – would be Millwall finally making good on a push for promotion to the Premier League.
There is obviously no love lost between West Ham and their arch rivals Millwall on or off the pitch.
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West Ham United's Axel Disasi during the Premier League match between West Ham United and Manchester United at London Stadium on February 10, 2026 in London, United Kingdom. Virgil van Dijk of Liverpool during the Premier League match between Nottingham Forest and Liverpool at City Ground on February 22, 2026 in Nottingham, England.
But while other clubs get to play their biggest rivals on a regular basis, games between the Hammers and the Lions have been rare down the years with the two clubs spending most of their time in different divisions.
Millwall beat Birmingham 3-0 on Wednesday night to remain third in the Championship, just four points off an automatic promotion spot.
If the Hammers can stay up and Millwall get promoted, imagine the excitement and anticipation ahead of the new season and the fixtures being released in June.
Fans celebrate during Tottenham Hotspur v West Ham United - Premier League
Photo by Charlotte Wilson/Offside/Offside via Getty Images
The third way West Ham can make this a dream end to the season is in the FA Cup.
For once, the Hammers have had reasonable draws in the world’s oldest and most famous cup competition.
Wins over QPR and Burton have set up a fifth-round clash at home against Brentford for a place in the quarter-finals.
Beat the Bees and the Hammers will be one game away from a trip to Wembley in the semi-finals and just three wins away from lifting the FA Cup for the fourth time in the club’s history.
While Nuno and his side clearly have bigger fish to fry in the Premier League, it is not unthinkable that West Ham could go on and lift the FA Cup – Crystal Palace and Leicester have proved that in recent seasons.
Hammers just two wins from Wembley and four from glory and Europe
Staying up, knowing the derby with Millwall is coming to the Premier League and lifting the FA Cup for the first time since 1980 would be a dream end to the season.
And it would all be topped off by the fourth factor – European football.
Winning the FA Cup would secure a return to Europa League football for the Hammers after two seasons away.
West Ham fans loved every minute of their European adventures during three consecutive campaigns in the Europa League and Europa Conference League.
That provided the club’s only major trophy of the last 46 years during that memorable night in Prague in 2023.
West Ham fans would be in dreamland looking ahead to a 15th consecutive season in the Premier League with the FA Cup added to their trophy cabinet, derbies with Millwall and a return to playing on the continent all to look forward to during a World Cup summer.
Yes it may be improbable that all of those things come off.
But it is certainly not impossible – and stranger things have happened.
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