West Ham United have faced a frustrating setback, as an opportunity to escape the relegation zone was missed by the Hammers.
Last Sunday was a tricky one for West Ham as they slumped to a 2-0 away defeat against an out-of-form Aston Villa, one in which a win would have guaranteed their exit from the relegation zone for the first time since November.
A 3-0 victory on the road for relegation rivals Nottingham Forest against fellow candidates Tottenham means the Irons sit in 18th, with their 29 points inferior to Spurs’ 30.
However, the mood at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is at an all-time low, with a promising previous week, stealing a point against top four hopefuls Liverpool, being diminished after their embarrassment against Forest.
This means that despite still being in the relegation zone, the team in claret and blue must stay resilient, with recent successful results, like the FA Cup fifth round triumph being utilised as a fuel for revival.
Since the embarrassment at the Molineux, gifting Wolves their first win of the season, West Ham have looked a completely new side. Nuno Espirito Santo’s change in tactics has helped provide some hope to the East London faithful and coupled with Paco Jemez’s arrival and newly found team cohesion, fans have never been so confident of survival.
However, the 2-0 defeat on Sunday unfortunately mirrored earlier defeats this season. With poor defensive organisation for Villa’s opener, and a late goalkeeper error proving costly, it felt as though some of the good work over past weeks was undone.
But crucially, the Hammers were dealt a bad hand in this game, with the absence of Crysencio Summerville, and the injury to Jean-Clair Todibo in the warm-up already putting them on the back foot.
Therefore, leading to academy graduate Freddie Potts filling in at centre-back, a position he is unfamiliar with at a professional level. This meant that West Ham sat back, allowing pressure from Aston Villa, much like the game plan in the 1-1 draw to Manchester City.
Whilst in that game it worked perfectly, with an immense defensive display from the Irons, this game was completely different, as allowing the Villans to attack without three natural centre-backs proved difficult. Nuno subsequently reverted to a back four after conceding, but the visitors struggled to find an outlet on the counter.
This game thus highlighted the importance of in-form Summerville, with his energy and speed deeply yearned for in this game. Nevertheless, West Ham looked the better team for early periods of the second half, until Ollie Watkins pounced on a Mads Hermansen error in the 68th minute, a real blow for the Hammers.
Conversely, an international break couldn’t have come at a better time, as a two week break before the next game may allow the team to recover, potentially seeing the reintroduction of Summerville by the FA Cup quarter-final clash to Leeds on Easter Sunday.
This could provide a well-needed boost, as a poor performance against Villa can be rectified with a win against Leeds, meaning West Ham would travel to Wembley for the first time since 2006.
To add, multiple West Ham players have been called up for international duty, with seven first team players representing their country this break. Most notably, Mateus Fernandes received his first Portugal call-up, showing just how impressive his form has been for the Hammers, as Roberto Martinez’s possesses a star-studded midfield.
Whilst possibly not the biggest factor, international call-ups are bound to help any players’ confidence, whilst giving those who may have not been called up a chance to rest and recover. Nuno will be hoping those away for the break stay fit, as it is vital that as many first teamers as possible avoid injury before the end-of-season run in.
Speaking of the run-in, with seven league games to go, it is as tight as it could possibly be. Just four points separate 18th place West Ham and 15th place Leeds, meaning that the relegation battle could go right down to the wire.
Whilst every fixture between now and the end of the season is equally important, the games the Irons will be looking to exploit is next league fixture against Wolves at home, with Palace and Everton following. The last game of the season against Leeds is potentially the most important one, as it may be the relegation decider.
All teams in the torrid battle to stay up have relatively winnable fixtures to end the season, as all four sides sit in the top half of the fixture ticker, a tool used to determine which teams have the easiest/hardest fixtures. Opta Analysis suggests that West Ham has the trickiest run-in. They have predicted a 57% chance of relegation, 31 game weeks into the season.
However, West Ham will have to use all the positivity and resilience built up in recent weeks to stage a comeback, as they must ignore all the noise and ‘projections’ to focus on their own game.
The Hammers welcome bottom-of-the-table Wolves to the London Stadium on the 10th of April, after an Easter Sunday quarter final clash against Leeds. The former feels like a must-win for Nuno against the side in which he made his name.
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