West Ham get one major positive after a Premier League restart to forget and they must make the most of it against Brentford.
After two years of brilliant progress with a team to be proud of, it is a rather miserable time to be a West Ham fan right now.
The last year, in the Premier League at least, has been more like the bad old West Ham of old.
The flaky, inconsistent West Ham who struggle on the road and fall below expectations.
We all hoped that West Ham belonged to the past after the uplift driven by David Moyes on his return to the club.
But here the club sits just two points off rock bottom approaching the halfway stage of the season following an unprecedented £170m summer transfer spend.
The knives are understandably out for Moyes. He is reportedly facing the axe if West Ham fail to beat Brentford on Friday night.
It is undeniably the club’s lowest point under the Scot since he returned to the club almost three years ago to the day back in 2020.
West Ham have lost the joint most games in the top flight this season – 10 from their opening 16 matches. Only basement boys Southampton have lost the same amount.
At that rate West Ham are on course to rack up more than 20 defeats – more than the 19 recorded when they were last relegated.
But, believe it or not, there is a faint glimmer of a silver lining to the dark clouds gathered over the club at the moment.
West Ham get one major positive after a restart to forget and they must make the most of it against Brentford.
For those who prefer to look on the bright side of life, there is something to cling on to after the 3-1 loss to Arsenal made it four defeats in a row.
Because almost every single team in, around and just above West Ham lost or failed to win in this game week.
Leeds were beaten 3-1 by Man City, Forest were well beaten 3-0 by Man United, Bournemouth lost 2-0 to Chelsea, Aston Villa lost 3-1 to Liverpool, Palace and Leicester both lost 3-0 to Fulham and Newcastle respectively, Southampton were beaten 3-1 by Brighton and Brentford were held to a 2-2 draw by Spurs.
The only team in the bottom half to win was Wolves as they beat fellow strugglers Everton 2-1 to keep them below West Ham.
Results actually worked out remarkable well for West Ham this week. And it has meant the pressure has not been cranked up as much as it might have had a few gone the other way.
What it also means for West Ham and Moyes is that if the Hammers do manage to beat 10th placed Brentford on Friday evening, they will move up to 17 points – just three behind the Bees.
Should West Ham be able to follow that up with another three points against Leeds then it will take them clear of the relegation fight – for the time being at least – and give everyone a chance to breathe and take stock.
Failure to do that, though, simply does not bear thinking about.
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