As tends to be the case when it comes to Premier League underachievers West Ham United, there are more ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ than in Willy Wonka’s entire supply of candies and nuts.
Alan Pardew is convinced that Graham Potter deserves the chance to construct a side in his own image.
West Ham’s 1-1 draw with Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday might have been one of their better performances under the former Chelsea boss – Potter was delighted to see Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Jarrod Bowen link up impressively again down the right – but his record of three wins from 16 games is growing increasingly difficult to overlook.
An 18.75 per cent win percentage, meanwhile, is worse than that of Gianfranco Zola or Avram Grant.
And while Pardew feels that happier days should lie around the corner, his confidence relies upon Lucas Paqueta dodging a lengthy, potentially career-ending ban, and Mohammed Kudus staying at the London Stadium for a further 12 months.
The Football Association are pursuing a lifetime ban for Paqueta on the back of alleged spot-fixing. In the meantime, West Ham are expecting offers for Kudus. Saudi Arabian outfit Al-Nassr remain interested despite the £125 million clause in the Ghanaian’s contract.
Alan Pardew says Lucas Paqueta and Mohammed Kudus are key to West Ham success
Whether or not both players remain at Potter’s disposal beyond the summer, Pardew feels, may well be the difference between another season of struggle or a far more successful campaign in claret and blue.
“I think his [2025/26] season is very much going to rely on two players,” Pardew begins. “Paqueta, who’s got this issue hanging over him. It is gonna be a massive blow to lose him.
“And then you’ve got Kudus, who has kind of been in and out. Sometimes, he is absolutely unplayable and then other times you don’t see him.
“I think those two players hold the key to success at West Ham. If they can get [Paqueta] off that charge, if [Potter] can get Kudus revved up and if he wants to stay, then you have got two quality offensive players.”
While still some way off their brilliant best, there were undoubted flashes of quality from both Paqueta and Kudus during the 1-1 draw with London neighbours Spurs.
Paqueta at times put on a masterclass of line-breaking passes in a deep-lying playmaker role. It was his zipped, first-time ball across to Max Kilman which really lit the fuse for Jarrod Bowen to cancel out Wilson Odobert’s blink-and-you’d-miss-it opener.
Kudus, picking up possession wide on the left, then fizzed a fine diagonal over to Aaron Wan-Bissaka. A pre-assist for the former Ajax star, one week after he scored his first Premier League goal of 2025 in the 3-2 defeat to Brighton.
Any post-match discussion surrounding Paqueta’s afternoon, however, understandably centred on the tears which flowed following his second-half yellow card, rather than his succession of probing through balls.
“I think he’s just a player that’s trying his absolute best and wants the situation to be better,” Potter explained, Paqueta getting visible emotional after he was booked by referee Michael Oliver for a late lunge. “Probably got a bit frustrated with the action.
“And then you see a human being. [He’s] not perfect, but I love Lucas. He’s given everything and in difficult circumstances, he’s in as well.
“He’s given everything and he’s absolutely fine now.”
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