West Ham’s abject start to the Premier League season has drawn obvious comparisons with Crystal Palace last time around.
The Hammers have lost all four of their league games so far; an identical record last season saw Dutch legend Frank de Boer pay with his job.
Manuel Pellegrini looks safe for the time being, but we’ve taken a look at Palace’s revival last season to offer hope.
How did Palace start off in 2017/18?
Palace were rock bottom, without a goal, when de Boer was sacked after defeats against Huddersfield, Liverpool, Swansea and Burnley. The Hammers have arguably faced a tougher opening four games this time around.
Hodgson was appointed manager of his boyhood club, but proceeded to lose his first three games; conceding a further 10 goals and still not scoring against both Manchester clubs and Southampton.
It took until after the second international break of the season for the Eagles to get their first win, beating reigning champions Chelsea 2-1.
Even after that, they didn’t win again until 12 December, but still ended up finishing the season in 11th.
What does that mean for West Ham?
Some observers may look at that run and believe the solution is obvious; sack the manager. The obvious riposte is that there is not a stand-out candidate on the market.
Further, Hodgson’s success shows that the softly spoken, aging manager can engineer a revival at a club who had a shocking start to the season.
One win between the start of the season and mid-December would likely have the Hammers fans at boiling point, but Palace showed that a respectable finish is still very possible from that position.
Palace were not in serious relegation danger towards the end of last season. Of course, Pellegrini was supposed to preside over a higher league finish than that, but it does serve to show that there is no need to panic just yet.
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