To think, there was a brief, fleeting moment when it appeared that Nuno Espirito Santo may have found an answer to West Ham United’s home hoodoo in the Premier League.
It had been 23 months since the Hammers last won three successive London Stadium matches.
But when defeating Newcastle and Burnley in successive weekends, the division’s slow starters were on the verge of a much-needed upturn. And what better opportunity than against a Liverpool side who had conceded seven goals across the previous week against PSV Eindhoven and Nottingham Forest?
Instead, while Lucas Paqueta’s ‘ridiculous’ red card overshadowed the occasion, West Ham United squandered all that momentum with a complete non-event of a performance. The meekest of 2-0 home defeats.
The Hammers certainly showed more heart against Aston Villa on Sunday. But on an afternoon when the fans paid tribute to departed legend Billy Bonds, Morgan Rogers’ late thunderbolt ensured that those wins over Burnley and Newcastle remain the club’s only home victories so far in 2025/26.
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And what is the bigger issue? The stadium or the squad?
Alan Pardew, one of Nuno’s East London predecessors, believes that it would be wrong to pin the blame for a miserable season at the doorstep of the despised London Stadium though.
West Ham United’s main issue is the squad, Alan Pardew argues
As far as Pardew is concerned, West Ham’s strugglers are down to a lack of quality, more than anything else. The white-hot spirit of Upton Park might have lit a fuse under an underperforming outfit, of course, though a combination of a tepid atmosphere and an uninspiring squad creates a rather sour taste.
“The stadium is cold. We had an unbelievable atmosphere at Upton Park. It was electric,” Pardew, who coached West Ham from 2003 to 2006, tells talkSPORT.
“We come to this stadium and I can’t imagine the stadium en masse singing the Billy Bonds song because this stadium doesn’t seem to warm to it. If it was Upton Park, I think it would have. It would have just grown in the stadium naturally.
“That atmosphere gets lost in the stadium. It’s just so big, the bowl.
“The difference between [Tottenham Hotspurs’] and West Ham’s stadium is that [Spurs’] was purpose-built. You’ve got that wall at the back which is fantastic. I’ve been there and it really does impact on the game.
“But the team isn’t good enough. What worries me more about West Ham, forget the stadium, put that aside for a minute, the team really are not very good compared to Premier League teams this year. That’s what warrants suggesting they are in big trouble.”
Pardew says transfers are a must as Nuno Espirito Santo asks for a striker
Pardew, who took West Ham to the Premier League and an FA Cup final during a successful three-year spell, believes that January business is a must.
Going into Saturday’s clash with Manchester City – a side the Hammers have not beaten since 2015 – the former boss believes his old outfit are a Jarrod Bowen injury away from total disaster.
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“The recruitment team, the owners, and the manager need to sit down and go, ‘Wow, we’ve got some work to do in January’,” he argues.
“If he got injured, Jarrod, I really would fear for West Ham. I still expect them to get out of it, but if he gets injured, wow. West Ham will be like, ‘Oh dear, [relegation] could happen’.”
Niclas Fullkrug is expected to join AC Milan in a deal that could free up some funds for new additions.
After conceding three times against Aston Villa, West Ham are back in for Charlie Cresswell, Hammers News understands. Atletico Madrid and England midfielder Conor Gallagher was linked last week, too, while Nuno is desperate to bring in a new striker as well.
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