West Ham United have not received much credit for their amazing form this season, but Alan Shearer has made up for it.
West Ham could make Champions League in fifth but could also miss out in fourth
The Hammers continued their remarkable season with a 2-1 win over bitter rivals Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.
The victory put West Ham back up to fourth place on merit, nine points clear of Spurs and looking a good bet to be in the European mix come what May.
David Moyes is leading West Ham to their best campaign for 35 years.
West Ham flying under the radar as they keep European dream alive
But at times you wouldn’t know it given the lack of praise, credit and coverage in the media.
West Ham have been flying under the radar of the media spotlight. Meanwhile other clubs such as Everton, Aston Villa and even Leeds get more attention from pundits.
But Premier League legend Alan Shearer was on hand to redress the balance on Match of the Day 2.
Shearer absolutely raved about the Hammers in what is some of the best analysis the club have had all season.
Shearer absolutely raves about Hammers with some of the best analysis all season, hails two key stars
And he picked out Declan Rice and Tomas Soucek as the key men behind Moyes’s brilliant revolution.
“I think they (West Ham) mirror their manager,” Shearer said on MOTD 2.
“I think even the West Ham fans know now even if they don’t win they’ve got a team that cares, a team that wants to fight and scrap and they’re very very well organised.
“Not only that but they’ve got quality I think, particularly in the midfield area and going forward.
‘They’re unbelievably brave… West Ham are a very good team now’
“You’ve got Soucek and you’ve got Rice who I think are a brilliant partnership. If you want to have a fight with them then they don’t mind that, but they can also play and they give fantastic protection also to the back four. They do a job defensively, they’re unbelievably brave.
“Rice drags his team 60/70 yards up the park. Their first thought is forward. (Rice’s clearance to deny Spurs an equaliser) is as good as a goal, what a clearance. They’ve got quality in the forward positions to go and cause teams problems.
“They’re a very good team now West Ham and hard to beat. What David Moyes has done is he’s got players out of the football club who he felt weren’t right for that club for whatever reason. And he’s got players in who care and his signings and they can play and they can go and score goals.”
Well said Alan. Class punditry from a class act.